Trauma is a highly stressful event that pushes you outside your window of tolerance, which is also known as your optimal zone of emotional “arousal.” When you’re within your window of tolerance, you can cope with your emotions. But trauma pushes you beyond what you can handle, resulting in abnormal and intense levels of distress. The extreme distress that survivors of trauma go through leaves behind lingering effects, such as lowered self-esteem, a negative worldview, co-occurring mental health conditions, and worsening physical health.
If you’re a trauma survivor, you’re probably no stranger to its lasting, negative impact. Maybe you’re even struggling to see how recovery from something so painful could be possible. Healing from trauma is a long journey that requires a great deal of patience and bravery, but there is hope to be found along the way. People who struggle after experiencing adversity often see positive growth afterward. This transformation following trauma is called post-traumatic growth.
The Impact of Trauma
Trauma happens when you experience a deeply distressing or disturbing event that is challenging to cope with and, oftentimes, out of your control. Trauma can refer to one incident or a series of ongoing events that happen over time. When you experience trauma, your sympathetic nervous system, which is a branch of the network of nerves that controls your unconscious bodily tasks, goes into fight-or-flight mode.
Fight-or-flight mode floods your body with adrenaline and cortisol, resulting in symptoms like an increased heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure. Essentially, it's a surge of energy that helps the body respond to perceived threats. Even after the traumatic events have ended, your body can remain stuck in a fight-or-flight mode. This means your nervous system is constantly on high alert, making it hard to relax. Being in a constant state of arousal can significantly impact your mental and physical health.
Example of Trauma’s Physical Effects
Chronic headaches, aches, pains, or fatigue
Gastrointestinal issues, such as upset stomach, acid reflux, diarrhea, or constipation
High blood pressure
Troubles falling and staying asleep
Substance misuse
Disordered eating
Increased risk of developing an autoimmune condition like lupus or fibromyalgia
Increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases
Examples of Trauma’s Emotional Effects
Increased feelings of anger, sadness, shame, and fear
Trouble concentrating
Distorted thinking patterns, such as developing a negative view of yourself or the world
Excessive guilt, even for things that weren’t your fault
Development of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD
Anxiety and/or depression
Social isolation
Relationship challenges
Increased risk of suicide
Traumatic experiences make it challenging to distance yourself from the adverse experience. You might constantly be on the lookout for threats or find yourself continually thinking about your negative experiences. To cope, you might avoid or suppress the memories, but internalizing trauma can lead to negative beliefs about yourself and the world around you.
However, through time and healing, the awareness of your ability to handle the traumatic experience can strengthen your sense of self and make you feel more resilient. This is one example of the growth that can occur after trauma.
Defining Post-Traumatic Growth
Post-traumatic growth is a concept first developed in the 1990s by psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun, while a more detailed model was reached in the last five to ten years. Post-traumatic growth is a theory that explains the transformation that occurs after trauma. It’s a concept that came from observing how people who endure psychological struggle following adversity often experience positive growth afterward.
Post-traumatic growth is the positive psychological changes experienced as a result of the struggle with trauma or highly challenging situations. It is a process that occurs alongside and out of the negative consequences of trauma. Post-traumatic growth can lead to positive changes in your self-perception, interpersonal relationships, and philosophy of life. Post-traumatic growth can show up as increased self-awareness, higher self-confidence, a more open attitude towards others, a greater appreciation of life, and the discovery of new possibilities.
Who Experiences Post-Traumatic Growth
Anyone who is impacted by trauma can find post-traumatic growth. Post-traumatic growth gets confused with resilience, but they are different concepts. Resilience is the ability to bounce back after adversity, whereas post-traumatic growth is the transformation that occurs after first struggling with the adversity.
Dr. Tedeschi, the psychologist who first developed the concept of post-traumatic growth, explains it like this: “Someone who is already resilient when trauma occurs won’t necessarily experience post-traumatic growth because a resilient person isn’t rocked to the core by an event and doesn’t have to seek a new belief system. Less resilient people, on the other hand, may go through distress and confusion as they try to understand why this terrible thing happened to them and what it means for their worldview.”
Essentially, post-traumatic growth develops out of the struggles that survivors experience. When you experience a traumatic event that challenges your core beliefs and causes intense emotional pain, and then begin to pull yourself out of the darkness, that’s where a sense of personal growth begins to develop.
How to Recognize Post-Traumatic Growth
Post-traumatic growth begins to take place once you start healing from your past experiences. For most, growth begins once you seek support—either from a therapist, support group, or community space—and start confronting the emotions you’ve been avoiding or suppressing. Everyone’s journey toward post-traumatic growth will be unique, but here are some common signs that growth is happening:
You’ve developed a new appreciation for life. Perhaps you feel grateful for what you have or feel more connected to experiences as they happen.
You have meaningful relationships with others. You can form close friendships and partnerships founded on care, respect, and acceptance.
You see new possibilities in life. You’re excited about the future and plan to participate in activities that bring you joy.
You can recognize your personal strengths. Your self-view has softened to allow in self-compassion and grace. You can name ways you’ve grown and feel connected to your positive attributes.
You have undergone a spiritual change or have a deeper, existential connection to things outside yourself. You may have developed a meditation practice or spent more time in nature. Maybe you’ve started volunteering for a non-profit you feel passionate about or have joined a spiritual or religious organization that aligns with your beliefs.
Therapy for Trauma
If you have experienced trauma and are struggling with its negative effects, our team of therapists can support you in your healing process. Therapy can be a supportive environment where you can begin exploring the ways that trauma continues to impact your life. By building insight into your experiences and beginning to process through the emotions that accompany your past, you can start moving away from suffering and toward growth.
Trauma oftentimes leaves survivors with a complex set of emotional and physical consequences, but there is hope in recovery. It’s important to work with a therapist who not only specializes in trauma but also understands the concept of post-traumatic growth so that they can guide you toward change and growth.
Here at Thrive for the People, we have a team of trauma-informed therapists who understand post-traumatic growth. We’d be honored to support you along your recovery journey. Schedule a free consultation call with a team member to see if we’d be a good fit for your needs.
