What happens in the trauma’s aftermath? How do its effects manifest differently on the individual, family, and community-wide levels? Stress, Trauma, and Posttraumatic Growth: Social Context, Environment, and Identities explores the way traumatic events are defined, classified, and understood throughout the life cycle, placing special emphasis on the complex intersections of diverse affiliations and characteristics such as age, class, culture, disability, race and ethnicity, gender identity and expression, immigration status, political ideology, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. The book gives its readers a solid basis for understanding traumatic events and treating their effects and also shows the varied ways that trauma is conceptualized across cultures. Both new and seasoned clinicians will come away from Stress, Trauma, and Posttraumatic Growth with a deep understanding of the principles that guide successful trauma treatment.

Posttraumatic Growth reworks and overhauls the seminal 2006 Handbook of Posttraumatic Growth. It provides a wide range of answers to questions concerning knowledge of posttraumatic growth (PTG) theory, its synthesis and contrast with other theories and models, and its applications in diverse settings. The book starts with an overview of the history, components, and outcomes of PTG. Next, chapters review quantitative, qualitative, and cross-cultural research on PTG, including in relation to cognitive function, identity formation, cross-national and gender differences, and similarities and differences between adults and children. The final section shows readers how to facilitate optimal outcomes with PTG at the level of the individual, the group, the community, and society.

The latest theory and research on understanding posttraumatic stressand its treatment, providing evidence-based clinical interventionsusing techniques drawn from positive psychology It is known that exposure to stressful and traumatic events can have severe and chronic psychological consequences. At the same time-mindful of the suffering often caused by trauma-there is also a growing body of evidence testifying to posttraumatic growth: the positive psychological changes that can result for survivors of trauma. Blending these two areas of research and exploring the relevance of positive psychology to trauma practice, Trauma, Recovery, and Growth: Positive Psychological Perspectives on Posttraumatic Stress provides clinicians with the resources they need to implement positive psychology interventions in their trauma treatment across a spectrum of?therapeutic perspectives, including cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, existential, and group therapies. Featuring contributions by internationally renowned researchers and practitioners and edited by experts in the field of positive psychology who have worked with survivors of trauma in the facilitation of their resilience, recovery, and growth, this timely book is divided into four parts: Toward an Integrative Positive Psychology of Posttraumatic Experience Growth and Distress in Social, Community, and Interpersonal Contexts Clinical Approaches and Therapeutic Experiences of Managing Distress and Facilitating Growth Beyond the Stress-Growth Distinction: Issues at the Cutting Edge of Theory and Practice Trauma, Recovery, and Growth explores the role positive psychology can play in how clinical practitioners treat and work with survivors of stressful and traumatic events and offers an optimistic perspective in the treatment of those who suffer posttraumatic stress following devastating events such as terrorist attacks, childhood sexual abuse, cancer, and war.

People who experience trauma often struggle with its effects, but many men and women have found meaning in their traumatic event and now experience life differently. Written by two psychologists and experts on trauma psychology—including one of the key researchers on posttraumatic growth (PTG)—this unique, evidence-based, step-by-step workbook offers a new model for processing traumatic experiences in order to gain wisdom, strength, and resilience. There is no denying the psychological and physical costs of trauma, but suffering a traumatic experience does not necessarily mean you’ll develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and have to live with its debilitating long-term symptoms. While the process of recovering from trauma is difficult and painful, survivors also experience posttraumatic growth (PTG). And with the right approach to healing, the same challenges that create PTSD can also set the stage for a psychological rebirth. The Posttraumatic Growth Workbook expands the focus on posttraumatic stress and its related difficulties to include the significant potential for positive growth in the aftermath of trauma. With this guide, you’ll learn more about traumatic experiences and their short- and long-term effects, discover where you are in your own process, explore vulnerability as an important aspect of post-traumatic strength, identify and develop other strengths for coping with—and growing beyond—your trauma, and successfully integrate your experience into your personal story. Navigating the aftereffects of trauma is a difficult journey, but many people report having a new appreciation for life and feeling even more resilient after working through their traumatic event. Using this powerful, PTG-based workbook, you’ll find it’s possible to come out of your trauma even stronger and wiser.

From the authors who pioneered the concept of posttraumatic growth comes Posttraumatic Growth in Clinical Practice, a book that brings the study of growth after trauma into the twenty-first century. Clinicians will find a framework that's easy to use and flexible enough to be tailored to the needs of particular clients and specific therapeutic approaches. And, because it utilizes a model of relating described as "expert companionship," clinicians learn how to become most empathically effective in helping a variety of trauma survivors. Clinicians will come away from this book having learned how to assess posttraumatic growth, how to address it in treatment, and they'll also have a basic grasp of the ways the changes they're promoting will be received in various cultural contexts. Case examples show how utilizing a process developed from an empirically-based model of posttraumatic growth can promote important personal changes in the aftermath of traumatic events.

Through cutting-edge research and thoughtful personal stories comes a “compassionate, friendly, and empathetic” (Kirkus Reviews) exploration of post-traumatic growth—the emerging idea that psychological trauma doesn’t destroy a person, but can instead spark future growth, self-improvement, and success. What if there’s an upside to experiencing trauma? Most survivors of trauma—whether they live through life-threatening illnesses or accidents, horror on the battlefield, or the loss of a loved one—can suffer for months, even years. But recently, psychologists have discovered that PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is only a piece of the whole experience. With the right circumstances and proper support, many trauma survivors also benefit after a terrible experience. They emerge stronger, more focused, and with a new perspective on their future. In the tradition of Po Bronson and Paul Tough, journalist Jim Rendon delivers a deeply reported and unique look at the life-changing implications of post-traumatic growth. The pain and anguish caused by traumatic events can become a force for dramatic life change. It can move people to find deeper meaning in their lives and drive them to help others. But how can terrible experiences lead to remarkable, positive breakthroughs? Upside seeks to answer just that by taking a penetrating look at this burgeoning new field of study. Comprised of interviews with leading researchers and dozens of inspiring stories, Rendon paints a vivid and comprehensive portrait of this groundbreaking field and offers a roadmap for anyone trying to understand how personal tragedy can lead to a more hopeful and positive future.

Trauma occurs when extremely stressful events shatter your emotional and psychological well-being, overwhelming your ability to cope. Research by the charity PTSD UK has found that 1 in 2 people will experience trauma at some point in their life, and 20% of those will develop post-traumatic stress. This fascinating and accessible book explains the many varied forms trauma can take, shows how to recognize signs of post-traumatic stress, and offers resilience-building strategies to go beyond 'coping' with it in order to grow from it instead – proving that what doesn't kill you can indeed make you stronger. After an insightful introduction about why the subject of post-traumatic growth is so worth exploring, each main chapter addresses key questions such as: What is trauma and what is post-traumatic stress? What is meant by the concept of post-traumatic growth and what makes it possible? How do you cope in the midst of trauma? How can you strengthen your resilience to keep going? And, finally, how can you actively facilitate post-traumatic growth and how can it change things for the better? As such, this book brings readers on an exploratory journey through the world of post-traumatic growth, reframing how readers view trauma and showing them how they can emerge from its shadow with a new appreciation for life, greater well-being and a higher level of functioning.

In this book, Calhoun and Tedeschi construct the first systematic framework for clinical efforts to enhance the processes they sum up as posttraumatic growth. Posttraumatic growth is the phenomenon of positive change through struggle with even the most horrible sets of circumstances. People who experience it tend to describe three general types of change: realistically stronger feelings of vulnerability that are nonetheless accompanied by stronger feelings of personal resilience, closer and deeper relationships with others, and a stronger sense of spirituality. Posttraumatic growth has only recently become an important focus of interest for researchers and practitioners. Drawing on a burgeoning professional literature as well as on their own extensive clinical experience, the authors present strategies for helping clients effect all three types of positive change--strategies that have been tested in a variety of groups facing a variety of crises and traumas. Their concise yet comprehensive practical guide will be welcomed by all those who counsel persons grappling with the worst life has to offer.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger. (Nietzsche) The phenomenon of positive personal change following devastating events has been recognized since ancient times, but given little attention by contemporary psychologists and psychiatrists, who have tended to focus on the negative consequences of stress. In recent years, evidence from diverse fields has converged to suggest the reality and pervasive importance of the processes the editors sum up as posttraumatic growth. This volume offers the first comprehensive overview of these processes. The authors address a variety of traumas--among them bereavement, physical disability, terminal illness, combat, rape, and natural disasters--following which experiences of growth have been reported. How can sufferers from posttraumatic stress disorder best be helped? What does "resilience" in the face of high risk mean? Which personality characteristics facilitate growth? To what extent is personality change possible in adulthood? How can concepts like happiness and self-actualization be operationalized? What role do changing belief systems, schemas, or "assumptive worlds" play in positive adaptation? Is "stress innoculation" possible? How do spiritual beliefs become central for many people struck by trauma, and how are posttraumatic growth and recovery from substance abuse or the crises of serious physical illnesses linked? Such questions have concerned not only the recently defined and expanding group of "traumatologists," but also therapists of all sorts, personality and social psychologists, developmental and cognitive researchers, specialists in health psychology and behavioral medicine, and those who study religion and mental health. Overcoming the challenges of life's worst experiences can catalyze new opportunities for individual and social development. Learning about persons who discover or create the perception of positive change in their lives may shed light on the problems of those who continue to suffer. Posttraumatic Growth will stimulate dialogue among personality and social psychologists and clinicians, and influence the theoretical foundations and clinical agendas of investigators and practitioners alike.

Posttraumatic growth is an area in which investigations are now being undertaken in many different parts of the world. The view that individuals can be changed--sometimes in radically good ways--by their struggle with trauma is ancient and widespread. However, the systematic focus by scholars and clinicians on the possibilities for growth from the struggle with crisis is relatively recent. There are now a growing number of studies and scholarly papers on the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of posttraumatic growth, and there are also theoretical models that can help guide the research further. It is clear, however, that this phenomenon is not yet well understood. The Handbook of Posttraumatic Growth: Research and Practice provides both clinicians and researchers with a comprehensive and up-to-date view of what has been done so far. In addition, it uses the foundations of what has been done to provide suggestions for the next useful steps to take in understanding posttraumatic growth. The book offers contributions of important and influential scholars representing a wide array of perspectives of posttraumatic growth. This volume serves as an impetus for additional work, both in the academic aspects and in the possibilities for clinical applications of posttraumatic growth. This Handbook will appeal to students, practitioners, and researchers working in a broad array of disciplines and human services.