“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.”
Viktor Frankl – ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’
Introduction
Throughout this two-part blog the nature of trauma will be explored as will some of the common misnomers connected to the experience of trauma and its recoverability. Having understood the nature of trauma then this blog will guide us through how we can appreciate how we as human beings tend commonly to deal with trauma at the time, in the immediate aftermath and potentially in the longer term. Rather than a popular misconception that trauma creates unrecoverable life damaging impact the science of post traumatic growth is explored and the optimism of the true deep strength and resourcefulness of the human soul is celebrated.
Part II of the blog concludes with more direct evidence and advice about how that growth can best be achieved and understood and the role that trauma informed coaching can have to amplify that learning and growth. This article is truly a testament to the strengths based approach of recovery and the power of facing into our experiences to become stronger than before, to make sense of the inexplicable and to help those around us who we see may benefit from this thinking and to create growth from their trauma.
It cannot be denied that an absence of trauma and the dilemma that it creates are of course preferential than it’s direct experience, but due to the prevalence of trauma in our lives then the knowledge about how to create and to maximise growth is important.
The analogy to the beautiful art of Kintsugi is very strong and uplifting. In this centuries old Japanese art rather than hiding the cracks in the pottery, the technique involves re-joining the broken pieces with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. When put back together, the whole piece of pottery looks more beautiful and intriguing but importantly tells a powerful story as it owns its own broken history, creating beauty from what was shattered.
Why Is There A Focus On Trauma?
The events of the last few years have created an even sharper focus than ever on the question of our survivability as human beings and similarly to be more reflective on how we maximise every opportunity that life can bring our way. In addition to some of our innate human traits such as negative bias alongside real life events can also collude to prevent us from thriving and looking toward growth. Over one in two men and women will report that they have experienced trauma in some way and there are a huge range of experiences that can leave us ‘traumatised’.
Many may mistakenly think that ‘trauma’ can is restricted to a single cataclysmic event leaving the person suffering from diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The truth however is far more complex in that long exposure to negative experiences can similarly traumatise the human soul. These experiences can include witnessing abusive relationships, adverse childhood experiences, suffering bullying and exclusion, an accumulation of microaggressions in the workplace through to bereavement, being the victim of assault, witnessing violence, suffering chronic illnesses. This has been particularly more evident in recent years, societal trauma such as witnessed in the pandemic or from the disasters unfolding in the wake of global warming.
The ‘Damaged for Life’ Misnomer
There is a common misunderstanding that suffering with single event or long exposure trauma results in an individual being broken for life. Add this mistaken belief to the human inclination toward a negative self-view, then the outlook could appear bleak indeed. Media attention on the victims of violence, survivors of disaster and a focus on justice for victims also can collude to exacerbate a negative belief that trauma is unrecoverable. The truth is much more optimistic than this misnomer would have us believe and the awe inspiring ability of human nature to recover from such events is a clear demonstration of our strength, of our ability to gain agency in situations that we may have felt out of control in and for sense to be made of traumatic events and for positivity to emerge in individuals.
Why Should We Strive for Post Traumatic Growth (PTG)?
One of the key determinants for post traumatic growth is the ability of the individual to reflect or be supported to consider more deeply the impact on them, the strengths that they possess as individuals and what in fact the experience has taught them. In the realm of psychology, the study of PTG has emerged as a fascinating and transformative concept. While trauma and adversity can undoubtedly bring about pain and suffering, researchers have discovered that they can also lead to positive psychological changes and personal growth. Post-traumatic growth refers to the phenomenon where individuals, in the aftermath of a traumatic experience, exhibit increased levels of resilience, strength, and newfound perspectives.
So many of us find the greatest difficulty in life when we face situations where we lack an ability to gain control over a given situation. The positivity of PTG is that whilst the trauma we experience comes with no agency on our part, the recovery from that trauma is a process where we can process and thrive and the new perspectives that we find, the strength and resilience that we can discover can be achieved and enhanced through deliberate processes that we employ in our recovery and reflections.
Why Post Traumatic Growth and Wolff’s Law Are Linked
The ability of the human body to strengthen as a result of experiencing pressure and to weaken under a lack of pressure is a well known medical phenomenon known as Wolff’s Law. It is this concept that dictates why astronauts who return from microgravity have measurable reductions in bone density and require intensive physiotherapy to recover to full health. Wolff’s Law also is the reason that tennis players and fencers develop greater bone mass in their dominant arms and legs. Our mind is no different than this, whilst in an ideal world the human psyche is healthier without trauma, there are strengths that may arise from the experience. As with our bone density, the exposure and learning from such deeply traumatic events can mean that we can create a focus on our strengths, on our resilience and on a deeper appreciation of life in general.
This is a fundamental aspect of our desire to learn and to grow. Through the process of enhancing our self-understanding we can develop deeper self-confidence. We can appreciate and define the signal strengths that brought us through the crisis and this in turn creates an emphasis on individual growth to realise our full and changed potential. In this way the recovery from trauma can equip us as humans to continue to pushing our boundaries ever further and to revel in a new found freedom to enjoy and celebrate being ourselves, who we are and what we overcame. Here lies the path to a deeper realisation of human potential.
Understanding Our Initial Response to Trauma
Post traumatic growth is a more long term phenomena and not how we will initially naturally respond to trauma. There can be no formula in every case for either the initial response or the longer term prospect of PTG, however, understanding the way that we generally respond supports our understanding of the experience and can help us to process better how we create the personal growth that can result for us.
The following graphic shows how we initially deal with trauma.
So what this demonstrates is that at the first encountering of or tipping point toward trauma then the human psyche splits into three aspects in order to cope with the overwhelming pressure and stress that is being experienced. This effectively means that the initial trauma part of us is predominant whilst our survival instincts kick in and grows bigger and more dominant to protect us from those extremely stressful feeling and thoughts at the time of the trauma.
In the survival mode we may be confused, angry, uncommunicative, show deep and unusual response to emotional triggers and it is the presence of our survival selves that creates space to nurture the healthy us. This may be small initially but as time goes on and we process events, get the support of loved ones and potentially our community then the healthy self grows ever further.
The healthy outcome of this process is that the traumatised self is marginalised into distant memory and the survival self can then diminish in size but may always rear up to protect us from triggers that cause us to experience the feeling of trauma again. This therefore leaves the healthy self in dominance and these are the ideal circumstances for PTG to flourish.
In Part II of this blog we will look forward to how we can create post traumatic growth from the recovery aspect of trauma. This covers 5 essential areas in which the learning and experience of trauma can create new found strength and depth. There are tactics to employ that allow us to interrupt the stresses that can follow from trauma triggers and create a positive force for good. Next week Part II of this blog will be published or please subscribe on the home page by clicking on the below link to receive the whole article now…
- Unlock Your Team’s Genius: How the Leader-Leader Model Ignites Epic Growth
- How To Radically Outperform Your Competition as a Pioneer Business – A Four Part Blog Series
- How To Radically Outperform Your Competition as a Pioneer Business – A Four Part Blog Series –
- How You Can Create Growth From Trauma Pt II
- How We Can Create Growth From Trauma Pt I
Your Coaching Journey Starts Here – Crossing Your Pacific