Best Life Therapy Blogs - Grief, Anxiety, Stress & More
- posted: Feb. 02, 2025
Most of us have heard about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, but many do not know about the strengths-based term, Post Traumatic Growth. This term refers to the personal growth that occurs after we experience a trauma. For many, after having survived something incredibly difficult such as the death of a loved one, a difficult divorce, an accident or some other tragedy, people often realize how strong they are. They have a new appreciation for life and begin to see new possibilities. In some cases, this can lead to improved relationships and spiritual growth. They learn who they can count on and who they can't. They learn how precious life is and that in a split second, it can be taken from us.
In my early 20s, my older brother was suddenly killed in a car accident. This is when I realized that life can be incredibly scary, tragically unpredictable and I had better appreciate each and every moment. I was forever changed and so were the lives of those who loved him. He used to call me every day before the accident. Every time that phone rang after he died, for just a fleeting moment, I recall thinking "is it him?" I still miss him and wish I could have him back. As much as we can't imagine doing so after a death, we learn to go about our lives and live them. We learn to adapt.
The Post Traumatic Growth Inventory was developed by Tedeschi and Calhoun (1996), professors at the University of North Carolina. This is a 21-item inventory designed to assess positive outcomes reported by people who have survived traumatic events. Here is the link to the assessment if you'd like to check it out: https://results.wa.gov/sites/default/files/WendyFraser_Oct28_HANDOUT.pdf. While self-administered assessments can provide us with valuable information, they are not a substitute for therapy. If you have experienced a traumatic event and want to see where you are in terms of growth or work on processing the trauma, feel free to print the inventory. If the results show that there are many areas you could improve on, it may be a sign that you could benefit from therapy.
While therapy can't take away the trauma you experienced, it can provide you with a safe place to process those experiences as you work on establishing safety and stabilization. Therapy can help clients learn more about how trauma lives in the body, help them learn relaxation strategies, begin to be able to self-regulate and release the trauma stored in the body. Therapy can help you integrate the experience into your life story in a way that promotes growth. You did not ask for the trauma to happen in your life but you can make some decisions about what to do about it.
Therapy can help clients learn to adapt. This process often involves learning to trust again in our intuition. Learning to trust in life and the people who surround us and learning that even though bad things happen, we can be okay. Sometimes we may feel stronger after the event(s) and that is okay. Being grateful for the strength that you have developed from the trauma in no way means you wanted the trauma to occur just to feel stronger. We'd never hope to relive that experience again regardless of any good that came out of it. I'd give anything to have my brother back even if it means that I'd lose that new appreciation for life. Most of us would love to go back to a time before the trauma. The simple fact is that we can't go back and the trauma does change us but we must give ourselves credit for surviving whatever it is that we endured. "When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what the storm is all about." by Haruki Murakami
Learning to mitigate the effects of trauma by educating yourself about trauma, strengthening your support system, seeking professional help and practicing self-care can help to lead the way to prost-traumatic growth. Sometimes there is a lot of guilt, shame and confusion surrounding traumatic events. Having a safe place to unpack those things can help. If you have experienced a traumatic event and want to begin participating in therapy, Best Life Therapy is here for you. New clients can request their initial appointment online.
- posted: Feb. 02, 2025
Most of us have heard about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, but many do not know about the strengths-based term, Post Traumatic Growth. This term refers to the personal growth that occurs after we experience a trauma. For many, after having survived something incredibly difficult such as the death of a loved one, a difficult divorce, an accident or some other tragedy, people often realize how strong they are. They have a new appreciation for life and begin to see new possibilities. In some cases, this can lead to improved relationships and spiritual growth. They learn who they can count on and who they can't. They learn how precious life is and that in a split second, it can be taken from us.
In my early 20s, my older brother was suddenly killed in a car accident. This is when I realized that life can be incredibly scary, tragically unpredictable and I had better appreciate each and every moment. I was forever changed and so were the lives of those who loved him. He used to call me every day before the accident. Every time that phone rang after he died, for just a fleeting moment, I recall thinking "is it him?" I still miss him and wish I could have him back. As much as we can't imagine doing so after a death, we learn to go about our lives and live them. We learn to adapt.
The Post Traumatic Growth Inventory was developed by Tedeschi and Calhoun (1996), professors at the University of North Carolina. This is a 21-item inventory designed to assess positive outcomes reported by people who have survived traumatic events. Here is the link to the assessment if you'd like to check it out: https://results.wa.gov/sites/default/files/WendyFraser_Oct28_HANDOUT.pdf. While self-administered assessments can provide us with valuable information, they are not a substitute for therapy. If you have experienced a traumatic event and want to see where you are in terms of growth or work on processing the trauma, feel free to print the inventory. If the results show that there are many areas you could improve on, it may be a sign that you could benefit from therapy.
While therapy can't take away the trauma you experienced, it can provide you with a safe place to process those experiences as you work on establishing safety and stabilization. Therapy can help clients learn more about how trauma lives in the body, help them learn relaxation strategies, begin to be able to self-regulate and release the trauma stored in the body. Therapy can help you integrate the experience into your life story in a way that promotes growth. You did not ask for the trauma to happen in your life but you can make some decisions about what to do about it.
Therapy can help clients learn to adapt. This process often involves learning to trust again in our intuition. Learning to trust in life and the people who surround us and learning that even though bad things happen, we can be okay. Sometimes we may feel stronger after the event(s) and that is okay. Being grateful for the strength that you have developed from the trauma in no way means you wanted the trauma to occur just to feel stronger. We'd never hope to relive that experience again regardless of any good that came out of it. I'd give anything to have my brother back even if it means that I'd lose that new appreciation for life. Most of us would love to go back to a time before the trauma. The simple fact is that we can't go back and the trauma does change us but we must give ourselves credit for surviving whatever it is that we endured. "When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what the storm is all about." by Haruki Murakami
Learning to mitigate the effects of trauma by educating yourself about trauma, strengthening your support system, seeking professional help and practicing self-care can help to lead the way to prost-traumatic growth. Sometimes there is a lot of guilt, shame and confusion surrounding traumatic events. Having a safe place to unpack those things can help. If you have experienced a traumatic event and want to begin participating in therapy, Best Life Therapy is here for you. New clients can request their initial appointment online.
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- Photo taken at Flushing County Park, Michigan