The post-traumatic growth: The wisdom of the mind, its clinical and neuropsychoanalytic vicissitudes

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S568-S568
Author(s):  
I. Rozentsvit

The purpose of this symposium is to bring awareness about and to promote knowledge of the phenomenon of posttraumatic growth (PTG) and its neurobiological mechanisms. The other purpose is to explore neuro-psycho-education as an important tool in understanding trauma and in promoting PTG.The idea of PTG was pioneered by Calhoun and Tedeschi (1999), who addressed positive psychological change (as they compared it with the “mind's wisdom”), which occurs in some individuals after trauma. PTG happens in the context of and despite of processing traumatic pain and loss. This phenomenon includes five main factors: relating to others with greater compassion; finding new possibilities, personal strength, spiritual change, and a deeper appreciation of life.Both neuropsychoanalysis and neuro-psycho-education offer us the knowledge of neurobiology and its mechanisms of “action” (such as neuroplasticity, neurointegration, mind-body integration, connectomes, ‘triune brain’, ‘bottom up processing’ and ‘top-down regulation’, etc.) and help modern mental health practitioners to understand their clients from “inside out”: to read the cues of their underlying (and not verbalized) patterns of being; to access their undisclosed, untold, emotional-relational history; to understand how this history shapes the present; to appreciate one's unique personal growth, even in the aftermath of trauma, and to understand mindfulness and mentalization as two powerful healing processes which play significant role in PTG.Both neuropsychoanalysis and neuro-psycho-education also help clinicians to be in touch with and to regulate our own emotions and somatic responses to a “difficult client”, while maintaining “benevolent curiosity” and empathic stance.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S672-S672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.S. Uzar Ozcetin ◽  
D. Hicdurmaz

IntroductionEach individual experience cancer in a different way. While some perceive cancer as a complex and traumatic experience by developing some psychosocial and additional physical problems, others overcome cancer-related difficulties by gaining benefits such as post-traumatic growth (PTG) owing to their resilience. Resilience and PTG that are very valuable concepts in human life to adapt positively to cancer process have relations which need to be better understood.ObjectivesWe aimed to provide a better understanding of relations between resilience and PTG and relations of these two concepts with cancer experience.MethodsLiterature review.ResultsSuccessful adjustment to life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, require resilience. On the other hand, resilience provides a barrier toward stressors by helping improvement of PTG and so, is an antecedent factor of PTG. PTG ensures a deeper perspective and strength to people after traumatic events. Hence, individuals having higher levels of PTG feel powerful enough to handle the problems in their life and can easily adapt to cancer process by focusing on the positive outcomes of trauma, having improved coping mechanisms and an improved psychological well-being.ConclusionsResilience and PTG have strong mutual relations and this phenomenon should be considered for a qualified cancer care.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2022 ◽  
pp. 003022282110486
Author(s):  
Fatma Altınsoy

This study examines the post-traumatic growth of adolescents who have lost their parents about their experiences. Eight adolescents whose parents had died participated in the study conducted in the phenomenological design. The data were collected with three-step semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the phenomenological analysis technique performed in five stages. The findings were grouped into three main themes as “reactions to loss,” “readjustment,” and “post-traumatic growth,” and nine subthemes under each, and these sub-themes were categorized into forty-five codes.


Author(s):  
Devi Venashinee Muruges

Indian psychology lays enormous importance on the research of religious experiences and the expansion of approaches by which to accomplish them. In addition to that, it also provides understanding of the different states of consciousness. Hence, it is undeniable that Indian psychology will be able to make a definite therapeutic contribution to many psychological problems. For mental health practitioners dealing with Hinduism, there are teachings within various texts that directly strengthen counseling and mental services. Some of the examples include perceiving the conscious and the unconsciousness aspects of the mind, utilizing meditation to support people with mental health issues, yoga exercises to curb anxiety and stress, and many others. Therefore, this chapter intends to elucidate the application of Hinduism in therapy.


2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tsai ◽  
R. El-Gabalawy ◽  
W. H. Sledge ◽  
S. M. Southwick ◽  
R. H. Pietrzak

BackgroundThere is increasing recognition that, in addition to negative psychological consequences of trauma such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), some individuals may develop post-traumatic growth (PTG) following such experiences. To date, however, data regarding the prevalence, correlates and functional significance of PTG in population-based samples are lacking.MethodData were analysed from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, a contemporary, nationally representative survey of 3157 US veterans. Veterans completed a survey containing measures of sociodemographic, military, health and psychosocial characteristics, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form.ResultsWe found that 50.1% of all veterans and 72.0% of veterans who screened positive for PTSD reported at least ‘moderate’ PTG in relation to their worst traumatic event. An inverted U-shaped relationship was found to best explain the relationship between PTSD symptoms and PTG. Among veterans with PTSD, those with PTSD reported better mental functioning and general health than those without PTG. Experiencing a life-threatening illness or injury and re-experiencing symptoms were most strongly associated with PTG. In multivariable analysis, greater social connectedness, intrinsic religiosity and purpose in life were independently associated with greater PTG.ConclusionsPTG is prevalent among US veterans, particularly among those who screen positive for PTSD. These results suggest that there may be a ‘positive legacy’ of trauma that has functional significance for veterans. They further suggest that interventions geared toward helping trauma-exposed US veterans process their re-experiencing symptoms, and to develop greater social connections, sense of purpose and intrinsic religiosity may help promote PTG in this population.


Author(s):  
O. Tokhtamysh

This topic is particularly relevant in the context of combat operations in eastern Ukraine against the occupation of the country, where members of the combined forces operation in each day are in a situation threatening the life and risk of getting a military psychological trauma. The article considers the elements and conditions of post-traumatic growth in the context of the rehabilitation process and the social promotion of human development after a traumatic event. The phenomenon of post-traumatic growth can transform the concept of rehabilitation into a term that can be labeled as "proabilitation". The forms of social and rehabilitation support in terms of creating conditions for post-traumatic growth and their effectiveness are explored. The theoretical and applied models with resource elements of the rehabilitation process and post-traumatic growth process are analyzed. It is noted that the traditional model of posttraumatic growth pay attention to the process of rumination and getting control over it and ignores one of the basic symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder, such as uncontrolled visual images (flash backs). The two-component concept of post-traumatic growth, which may be «illusory» or «adaptive», can also be presented as a «compensatory» or «healing» type with regard to the presence or absence of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms after reaching post-traumatic growth. Posttraumatic growth occurs in several domains and can be depending on the type of traumatic event experienced, the individual reactions and the psychological qualities of the person. This process is not such that it automatically eliminates the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, the same, rejecting the need for psychotherapeutic and psychosocial care and focusing only on post-traumatic growth can be a false strategy for those who have experienced a traumatic event. Consequently, the phenomenon of post-traumatic growth can be regarded as a powerful resource factor for the rehabilitation process, in particular, as a motivational component of psychosocial assistance.


2021 ◽  
Vol VI (I) ◽  
pp. 204-221
Author(s):  
Samra Zubair Lodhi ◽  
Seema Gul

The facet of trauma as a constructive means is recent area of study in the field of Positive Psychology i.e, Posttraumatic growth. The present qualitative study is aimed to explore the process of PTG in the trauma victims of Pakistan. Total sample (N=40) having an equal number of participants i.e, manmade disaster (n=20, Male=10 & female=10) and natural disasters (n=20, Male=10 & female=10) was selected purposively. Interview protocol i.e, Semi-Structured Questionnaire was developed with the help of previous literature to go deep about the growth process in participants. The in-depth interviews were conducted on victims showing high Post-traumatic growth on PTGI. In-depth interviews were conducted, tape-recorded and transcribed. Themes were extracted out of bulk of the data through IPA to find out the process of PTG. Main themes were extracted and a Model of PTG was developed with the interaction of those themes.


The psychological state of a person will be affected when they are diagnosed with cancer and this condition will actually worsen the physical condition of the patient. However, many breast cancer sufferers are able to face this stressful situation positively, and they experience post-traumatic growth. They did a series of coping strategy when they had cancer and some of these strategies were able to influence their post-traumatic growth. The current study aims to investigate and to understand how different coping strategy can affect the level of post-traumatic growth of housewives with cancer. This study used a descriptive-explorative qualitative approach with eight women with breast cancer completed surveys using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi& Calhoun). The coping strategy was obtained using an interview. The results of the present study indicate that sufferers performed different coping strategies and this affects their level of post-traumatic growth. Respondents with high post-traumatic growth exercise a problem-focused coping i.e. positive reappraisal and emotion-focused coping strategy, i.e. seeking social support when they first learned about the condition of their disease. Respondents who had low post-traumatic growth, on the other hand, did emotional-focused coping strategies, which isavoidance and distancing when they first learned about the condition of their illness. This study also found several factors that influence patients’ strategy. There are differences in the Coping pattern Strategy used by housewives with breast cancer in terms of differences in levels of post-traumatic growth it has. The pattern of coping strategy that is carried out for the first time by housewives with breast cancer could lead themto be in a variety of post-traumatic growth conditions.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjie Duan ◽  
Pengfei Guo

Objective: Relationship, vitality, and conscientiousness are three fundamental virtues that have been identified recently, which are important individual differences to health, well being, and positive development. This cross-sectional study attempted to explore the relationship between the three constructs and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in three directions, including indirect trauma samples without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), direct trauma samples without PTSD, and direct trauma samples with PTSD. Methods: A total of 340 community participants from Sichuan Province, Mainland China involved in the study, most of which experienced Wenchuan and Lushan Earthquake. Participants were required to complete the self-reported questionnaire packages at one time point for obtaining their scores on virtues (Chinese Virtues Questionnaire), PTSD (PTSD Checklist-Specific), and PTG (Post-traumatic Growth Inventory-Chinese). Results: Significant and positive correlations between the three virtues and PTG were identified (r = .39 to .56; p < .01). Further regression analysis by stepwise method reveled that: in the indirect trauma samples, vitality explained 32% variance of PTG. In reference to the direct trauma sample without PTSD, both relationship and conscientiousness explained 32% variance of PTG; whereas in the direct trauma sample with PTSD, only conscientiousness accounted for 31% the variance in PTG. Conclusion: This cross-sectional investigation partly revealed the roles of different virtues in trauma context. Findings suggest important implications for strengths-based treatment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-106
Author(s):  
A.I. Sergienko

The article presents results of empirical studies of the effect of the subjective perception of parents of the severity of the psychophysical condition of a child with special needs and age (meaning the time elapsed after diagnosis) on depression symptoms ("Beck's depression inventory"), basic beliefs ("World Assumptions Scale") and posttraumatic growth ("Post Traumatic Growth Inventory") in parents of children with disabilities. Parents ' subjective perception of their child's condition with disabilities affects only on one of the scales of PTGI ("Spiritual changes"), as well as the severity of depressive symptoms. The period after the diagnosis of the child (i.e., the age of the child) has an impact on the symptoms of depression and baseline settings, but not on the indicators of PTGI. Based on the results obtained and the concept of PTGI, author formulated recommendations for providing psychological assistance to parents of children with disabilities, taking into account their perception of the severity of the disease and the age of the child.


Author(s):  
Devi Venashinee Muruges

Indian psychology lays enormous importance on the research of religious experiences and the expansion of approaches by which to accomplish them. In addition to that, it also provides understanding of the different states of consciousness. Hence, it is undeniable that Indian psychology will be able to make a definite therapeutic contribution to many psychological problems. For mental health practitioners dealing with Hinduism, there are teachings within various texts that directly strengthen counseling and mental services. Some of the examples include perceiving the conscious and the unconsciousness aspects of the mind, utilizing meditation to support people with mental health issues, yoga exercises to curb anxiety and stress, and many others. Therefore, this chapter intends to elucidate the application of Hinduism in therapy.


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