Post-Traumatic Growth
I had been making bread for a while when the pandemic hit, but all of my attempts at making sourdough bread fell pretty flat. With all that extra time at home, I was determined to make a good sourdough. I bought Artisan Sourdough Made Simple for clear instructions on what to do. From the book, I learned how to properly produce the perfect starter for the bread. This perfect starter, fed every day, kept on a warm counter, made perfect bread that did not have the characteristic sour flavor that I was looking for. However, when I abused the starter a bit, kept it in the fridge and did not feed it as regularly, the starter produced a more distinguished, funkier flavor that came out in the bread.
I use this story as an analogy for post-traumatic growth. Post-traumatic growth is the product of the proper care and healing after a traumatic event. Just like my trial and error of making bread, when I made a perfect starter the bread was good but not as complex or interesting. A life without trauma can certainly be good and a life that includes trauma can also be good with the resultant growth and healing opening the door to a more complex, funkier life.
As a whole, I think the topic of trauma is seen in terms that are too black and white. Some people dismiss trauma as a real problem while others give the impression that trauma is not something we can recover from. The latter focus so much on the challenges of trauma and the negative impact trauma has on individuals in a way that can be a disservice to people who are working to recover from trauma. Trauma does affect a lot of us significantly, but it's not the end of the story. As researchers continue to understand trauma as a whole, we’re finding that people who have been through these significant difficulties in life are developing a greater sense of meaning and purpose in their lives and have a stronger sense of community. In 1996, researchers Tedeschi and Calhoun created an assessment tool to measure survivor growth and self-improvement after a traumatic event. This tool identified that survivors can grow in five areas: personal strengths, new possibilities, improved relationships, spiritual growth, and appreciation for life.
As a society, we are starting to acknowledge the detrimental impact trauma has on the human psyche and physical health. However, there is little to no conversation about the growth that healing from trauma can bring. Holding both the pain and possibility for growth can be inspiring to individuals who recently experienced a traumatic event, and this viewpoint can start to give survivors their power back.
Now, to be clear, I am not glorifying trauma. I will never ask a trauma survivor to say what happened to them was a good thing or deny their felt sense of what happened to them as awful. I particularly found this a trend when I worked with individuals who are coming out of coercive spiritual traditions – they are taught to believe that the bad things that happen to them are good for them, they need to be thankful for everything, and that they must deny their negative experiences. Part of healing from trauma is bravely telling the truth about what happened and validating our experiences.
Often when I work with people with trauma, they are afraid that they're never going to be able to have strong relationships again or trust other people, or that they're always going to be anxious and depressed. When we experience trauma, in the beginning it's hard to see through the pain and hurt. This is especially true when the trauma is recent or when a traumatic event happened years ago but we did not seek treatment for it. Ultimately, there are two parts of trauma: the evil, ugly, negative side and the transformative, healing growth. Remember that there can be positive growth and good things after a traumatic event. There is even hope, healing, and a more fulfilling and whole life on the other side.
Written from Hunter's perspective in collaboration with Shirnell Lewis.