Post-Traumatic Growth

Post-traumatic growth is positive psychological change experienced as a result of struggling with highly challenging, highly stressful life circumstances, circumstances significant enough to challenge a person's adaptive resources and their basic understanding of the world and their place in it. People who experience it often report change across five areas: appreciation of life, relating to others, personal strength, new possibilities, and spiritual, existential or philosophical change. These changes let a person give meaning to a traumatic experience, deepening empathy through stronger relationships, turning personal strength into resilience, and incorporating new core beliefs drawn from spiritual or philosophical reflection.