Post Traumatic Growth:

1
Post Traumatic Growth

• Spiritual Diversity in Response to Trauma

2
Topical Overview

• Interest in the field
• Post Traumatic Growth Construct
• Tedeschi, Park Calhoun, 1998
• Terror Management Theory
• Pyszczynski, Solomon Greenberg, 2002
• Personal experience
• Grace and Compassion at Ground Zero, New York
  City
• Rogers Soyka (in press)

3
Post-Traumatic Growth

• The belief that trauma can ultimately result in
  positive outcomes is documented in philosophical
  and religious writings since the beginning of
  recorded history.
• (Tedeschi Calhoun, 1995)

4
Post-Traumatic Growth

• Religious traditions explain the role of
  suffering in bringing people closer to truth,
  wisdom God

• Cultural traditions
• Egyptian Mythology The Phoenix
• Hebrew Mythology Rainbow following the Flood

5
Post-Traumatic Growth

• Existential grounding
• Kierkegaard (1983)
• Nietzsche (1955)
• Fromm (1976)
• May (1960)
• Tillich (1952)
• Yalom (1980)

• Contemporary Sources
• Frankl (1963)
• Caplan (1964)

6
Post-Traumatic Growth

• Described as both a process and outcome
• Growth can occur and co-exist with negative
  psychological responses and consequences
• Differentiated from
• Resilience (e.g., Rutter, 1987 Harvey, 1996)
• Hardiness (Kobasa, 1979)
• Sense of Coherence (Antonovsky, 1987)
• Strong Spiritual and Existential components

7
Post-Traumatic Growth

• Growth outcomes can broadly be classified into
  three types

• Perceptions of Self
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Philosophy of Life

8
Perception of Self

• Survivor versus Victim
• Self-Reliance
• Vulnerability

9
Interpersonal Relationships

• Self-disclosure and Emotional Expressiveness
• Compassion and Giving

10
Philosophy of Life

• Priorities and Appreciation of Life
• Existential Themes and Sense of Meaning
• Spiritual Development
• Wisdom

11

• Return