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Post Traumatic Growth
Challenging times can lead to positive changes.
You can use the present moment to release attachments to past memories and make room for a positive future. Yes, you can experience resilience, growth and well-being.
Our mission is to foster Post Traumatic Growth by building Communities for Human Flourishing.
We do this by sharing tools that help you discover meaning and purpose for yourself, and learn how to enjoy life and be resilient, fulfilled and authentic, while feeling safe, calm and fully present.
What Is Developmental Trauma?
What is Developmental Trauma, how it is caused, and how can you transform and transcend it?
Developmental Trauma is similar to, yet different from, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Other names used to describe Developmental Trauma are:
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- Complex Trauma
- Complex PTSD
- Relational Trauma
Unlike PTSD, which is caused by a single traumatic event that happens to an adult, developmental trauma is due to multiple events that happen in childhood.
The terms “Relational Trauma,” “Complex Trauma” or “Complex PTSD” are used to describe the experience of multiple and/or chronic and prolonged, developmentally adverse traumatic events, most often of an interpersonal nature (e.g., sexual or physical abuse, war, community violence) and early-life onset. These exposures often occur within the child’s care-giving system and include physical, emotional, and educational neglect and child maltreatment beginning in early childhood.
Developmental trauma happens when the child feels physically and psychologically trapped, and develops coping mechanisms in situations where fight or flight does not seem possible.
Survivors of domestic abuse share many of the same challenges as those with developmental trauma, because they too experience repeated traumatic events in situations where they feel trapped.
Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy
Option B, a recent book by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant, is a deeply compassionate and very constructive description of how those who suffer trauma can face adversity, build resilience, and find joy. The authors provide up-to-date information about tools and methods that can help you use your traumatic experience as a springboard for growth. Of particular interest is their excellent description of the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) developed by Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun.
Option B is well written and easy to understand by the lay-reader. If you want more academic information, you can study the work of Tedeschi & Calhoun.
If you are interested in learning more about how traumatic or life-altering events in your life may have produced growth for you, you can complete an on-line version of the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI).
The questionnaire asks you to identify life-altering events such as disability or job loss, indicate the time elapsed since the event occurred and answer several questions about the degree to which you experience change because of the traumatic event. Your responses to the questions may reflect growth in the five factors that the questionnaire looks at:
- Relating to Others
- New Possibilities
- Personal Strengths
- Spiritual Change
- Appreciation of Life
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