Post Traumatic Growth

Post-traumatic growth can be defined as when an individual experiences positive psychological change as a result of coping with a traumatic event. Post-traumatic growth has to do with the modifications that cut to the roots of our way of being in the world, not just merely coping with the trauma (Joseph, 2011). It refers to how adversities often help people discover their ability to springboard to further personal growth, individual development and a deeper understanding of who they are (Joseph, 2011). There are three main areas of growth that has been identified after a person experiences a traumatic event: change in viewpoint of life, change in awareness of self and change in their connections with others. Personality and personal characteristics (e.g. self- confidence, optimism, locus of control) plays an important role in the development of post traumatic growth (Joseph, 2011).

The process of posttraumatic growth starts with a stressor (e.g. breast cancer) where an individual faces a traumatic event. Following trauma, people usually

benefit finding, meaning making, positive coping process) that might be applied at different stages of her disease which might enhance coping process to facilitate the development of post traumatic growth (Joseph, 2011). Benefit finding is a process, which the patient creates new positivity despite the traumatic event, based on the benefit that he or she identifies (Joseph, 2011). In this case, the individual takes the traumatic event as an opportunity for self-growth and in the process develop posttraumatic growth. For example, the cancer patient tries to learn and gain new experience as much as she can. In contrast, meaning making is a process where the individual starts reassessing their current belief (Joseph, 2011). For example, a cancer patient starts making sense of her cancer experience, which allows her to change her basic