JOURNAL
Trauma and post-traumatic growth: Honoring survival while creating new possibilities
You're not broken because trauma changed you. Growth after trauma doesn't mean your pain wasn't real.
When trauma shatters your world, well-meaning people often rush to find the silver lining. They tell you everything happens for a reason, that you'll come out stronger, that there's a gift in your suffering. These words, though meant kindly, can feel dismissive of the very real devastation you've experienced.
The truth is more nuanced and, ultimately, more hopeful: trauma can destroy and create simultaneously. Your pain doesn't need to have a purpose for growth to be possible.
Post-traumatic growth is the positive psychological change that some individuals experience after a life crisis or traumatic event. Post-traumatic growth doesn't deny deep distress, but rather posits that adversity can unintentionally yield changes in understanding oneself, others, and the world.
The phenomenon was identified by psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun in the 1990s. Based on their research, the pair described five categories of growth that occur over time: Survivors of trauma recognize and embrace new opportunities. They forge stronger relationships with loved ones as well as with victims who suffered in the same way. They cultivate inner strength through the knowledge that they have overcome tremendous hardship. They gain a deeper appreciation for life.
Post-traumatic growth isn't about returning to who you were before—it's about becoming someone new. It is important to note that PTG does not negate trauma's negative effects but acknowledges that growth can occur alongside pain and suffering. Following a significant but unpleasant life experience, it is a positive metamorphosis.
Your story doesn't need a happy ending to have meaning. Growth and grief can coexist in the same heart.
Research has identified five specific areas where people commonly experience growth after trauma:
Appreciation of life: Trauma has a way of clarifying what matters. Many survivors describe a heightened awareness of beauty, deeper gratitude for small moments, and a shift in priorities toward what truly matters to them.
Relating to others: Deeper Relationships after attending Struggle Well training is one of the documented outcomes of trauma-informed growth work. Trauma can teach us about vulnerability in ways that deepen our capacity for authentic connection.
Personal strength: the item "I discovered that I'm stronger than I thought I was" ranked highest on the post-traumatic growth scale. This isn't about toxic positivity—it's about the genuine discovery that you can survive what you thought would destroy you.
New possibilities: Sometimes trauma closes doors, but it can also open others. You might discover new career paths, creative expressions, or ways of being in the world that you never would have explored otherwise.
Spiritual development: This doesn't necessarily mean religion. The domain of Spiritual-Existential Change may occur when individuals reconsider existential issues and potentially reconfigure their beliefs and belief systems as a result of their experience with trauma.
Here's what the research tells us: Although the exact number is unknown, researchers estimate that half to two-thirds of trauma survivors may experience post-traumatic growth. This means that a significant portion of survivors don't experience growth in these traditional ways—and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Many people do not experience an upside to a traumatic experience—and that's ok. Survivors can simply work to process the experience and curb its influence on daily life.
Your worth isn't determined by your ability to transform pain into purpose. Sometimes survival itself is the victory.
Trauma does not have to be the end of the road, rather it can be the path to a new beginning. But this path rarely looks like what we expect. The five phases of PTG represent the process we must undertake on the road to PTG, which includes grieving what we lost and rebuilding core beliefs.
The process often involves:
Shattering of core beliefs: Traumatic events are often unexpected and can damage or destroy our core beliefs. In the aftermath of trauma, we must rebuild our system of core beliefs, just as a city rebuilds its infrastructure after an earthquake. Better. Stronger.
Struggle and rumination: Growth doesn't come from the trauma itself but from wrestling with its aftermath. it is not the trauma per se that is the catalyst for change but the abrupt disintegration of one's fundamental assumptions and the cognitive process implicated in reestablishing functional assumptions.
Meaning-making: This is where narrative therapy principles become crucial. Your ability to construct a coherent story about your experience—one that honors both the devastation and any growth that emerges—is central to healing.
From a narrative therapy perspective, post-traumatic growth often involves externalizing the trauma rather than internalizing it as part of your identity. Instead of "I am traumatized," the story becomes "I experienced trauma and I'm learning to live with its effects."
A substantial body of theoretical work on meaning-making processes postulates that assisting clients in reconstructing their personal narratives in the aftermath of trauma helps survivors to integrate the traumatic experience into their identities and life stories.
This isn't about pretending the trauma didn't happen or minimizing its impact. It's about separating your worth and identity from what happened to you. You are not your trauma, though your trauma is part of your story.
Research shows that survivors who were able to articulate a coherent story about their lives experienced more PTG, and I identified key characteristics of three stages of post-trauma change. The ability to tell your story—to yourself and trusted others—appears to be crucial for growth.
One of the most important things to understand is that Post-traumatic growth can, in fact, co-exist with post-traumatic stress disorder. You don't have to choose between acknowledging your ongoing struggles and recognizing any growth you've experienced.
Some people experience symptoms of PTSD and posttraumatic growth at the same time. This isn't contradictory—it's human. You can simultaneously struggle with nightmares and feel grateful for deeper relationships. You can have anxiety about the future while also appreciating life more fully.
If you're reading this as someone who has experienced trauma, here's what matters: your experience is valid exactly as it is. Whether you've experienced growth, are still in survival mode, or find yourself somewhere in between, your journey is worthy of respect.
Growth, when it happens, often emerges not from the trauma itself but from your courageous engagement with its aftermath. Post-traumatic growth often happens naturally, Tedeschi says, but it can be facilitated in five ways: through education (rethinking ourselves, our world, and our future), emotional regulation (managing our negative emotions), and building narrative coherence about your experience.
The goal isn't to be grateful for your trauma or to pretend it made you better. The goal is to honor your survival, acknowledge your pain, and remain open to the possibility that new chapters of your story are still being written.
Your hurt feelings about what happened are completely valid. And your capacity to grow beyond what you thought possible is also real. Both can be true at once.
If you're seeking support after trauma, look for approaches and therapists who can hold both your pain and your potential without rushing you toward either. PTG, fundamentally, is a social-ecological process. Healing happens in relationship and community, not in isolation.
Remember: you don't need to transform your trauma into something beautiful for it to have value. Sometimes the most profound growth is simply learning to live fully again, carrying both your scars and your strength as you write the next chapters of your uniquely valuable story.
If you're struggling with the effects of trauma, please reach out for professional support. Growth is possible, but you don't have to navigate this journey alone.