Posttraumatic growth 5 areas to grow

Post -traumatic growth can be defined as a positive psychological change experienced by the person after having crossed adversities.

From ancient times, anguish and suffering have been analyzed from a positive optics, as highlighted in the beliefs of the Hebrews, the Greeks, the primitive Christians, in Hinduism, Buddhism and other systems.

Currently, it is spoken from psychology, referring to the concept of resilience, as a mechanism that allows working before a trauma, a challenge or a stressful factor.

However, Between resilience and post -traumatic growth there is a difference, because in the latter there is a recovery that implies the meeting of benefits within that adverse situation.

Post -traumatic growth

According to the author Arias P, in his study on posttraumatic growth in survivors of earthquakes in Ecuador and Chile, after the natural disaster, the survivors, when time passed, they could experience personal positive changes that were reflected in three Areas:

a) Changes in self -perception,

b) Changes in interpersonal relationships and

c) Changes in life philosophy.

It should be noted that the term of posttraumatic growth arose within a group of psychologists from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, where it was observed that up to 89 % of Survivors reported at least one aspect of post -traumatic growth as a form of renewed appreciation towards life.

Thus, variants have emerged about this idea that has also hosted the model of stress -related growth, proposed by Crystal Park, who stressed that there is a meaning and meaning that derives from a context when adapting to challenging situations.

Along these same lines, Joseph and Linley stated that there was an adverse growth in which the psychological well -being of the subjects increased, by integrating traumatic experience into their current belief system and positively accommodating the information, assimilating previous beliefs.

Postraumatic growth takes place because the individual tries to adapt to a series of circumstances that are negative and can generate high levels of anguish.

But, it should be noted that this growth does not derive from trauma, but that arises from the individual's struggle before a new reality, after trauma.

Adaptive factors in post -traumatic growth

There are certain predictors of posttraumatic growth, which are the following:

• Spirituality: which is linked to posttraumatic growth;
• Social support: that helps cushion the response to stress and,
• The acceptation: or the ability to accept situations that can be changed is a crucial point to experience growth in an adversity.

In this sense, post -traumatic growth does not only imply the capacity that the person has to recover, but also an additional improvement with respect to the quality of life that led prior to the challenging event.

Following the same line, it is important to highlight that the idea of ​​posttraumatic growth has also been attributed five areas in which growth is given, which are the following:

1. Relations with others;
2. New vital possibilities;
3. Personal strength;
4. Spiritual change and,
5. I appreciate life.

All this indicates that after experiencing an adverse circumstance it is possible to reach a state of growth that increases well -being in general.

It is also necessary to emphasize that there are two perspectives on posttraumatic growth: an American and a French.

From the American perspective, the concept is related to surviving and resisting in an adverse environment, Without suffering any disorder and, in addition, living a positive change that leads to a better situation in which the event was in.

Instead, From the French perspective, the concept of post -traumatic growth is understood as comparable to resilience, in which positive psychological changes go beyond the previous levels of functioning.

From this point of view, post -traumatic growth includes an increase in the appreciation of the value of life; A sense that life offers new possibilities, an increase in personal strength, a strengthening in personal relationships and positive changes at the spiritual level.

Currently, it is proposed that post -traumatic growth can be considered as a coping style, as well as the result of positive coping.

Some authors also emphasize that Postraumatic growth answers the question, in certain circumstances, “why did this happen?", while other currents indicate that there is a construction of situational meaning that leads the person to reassess the beliefs that support their life.

Finally, post -traumatic growth also implies an interpretive process, in which the person processes the information of what has happened to him and reinterprets the experience as an event that makes it emerge coping capabilities.

A last post -traumatic growth model assumes this process as a positive mechanism in which adverse events are assimilated as means that allow people to develop new coping strategies.

It follows that After experiencing an adverse situation, many people also manifest a greater increase in the confidence of their own abilities to deal with other adverse situations that may be presented to them in the future.

PTSD: Origin, symptoms and treatment

Bibliography

• Arias, Patricio R., & Garcia, Felipe E ... (2019). Postraumatic growth in survivors of earthquakes in Ecuador and Chile. Ajayu scientific dissemination body of the UCBSP Department of Psychology, 17(2), 317-331. Retrieved on August 29, 2021, from http: // www.Scielo.org.Bo/Scielo.PHP?script = sci_arttext & pid = s2077-21612019000200005 & lng = es & tlng = is
• Costa-Requena, g., & Moncayo, F. L. G. (2007). Post -traumatic growth in cancer patients. Behavior analysis and modification, 33(148).
• García Martínez, F. AND., Jaramillo, c., Martínez, a. M., Valenzuela, i., & Cova Solar, F. (2014). Psychological responses to a natural disaster: stress and post -traumatic growth. Liberabit, twenty(1), 121-130.
• Posck, b. V., Baquero, b. C., & Jiménez, M. L. V. (2006). Traumatic experience from positive psychology: resilience and post -traumatic growth. Psychologist's papers, 27(1), 40-49.