Article for Dig Deeper: Learn about Post-Traumatic Growth

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the conceptual foundations, clinical definitions, inventory domains, and cognitive processes of posttraumatic growth as described by Tedeschi and Calhoun.

Posttraumatic Growth

Positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances.

Assumptive World

The general constellation of everything an individual knows or thinks they know about the world, providing paradigms for understanding causes, meaning, and purpose.

PTGI (Posttraumatic Growth Inventory)

A $21$-item scale containing five factors designed to quantify the experience of positive change following traumatic events.

Resilience

The ability to continue living a purposeful life after hardship and adversity or manage to remain psychologically healthy despite difficult circumstances.

Hardiness

A set of personal characteristics consisting of tendencies toward commitment, control, and challenge when responding to life events.

Sense of Coherence

The ability of an individual to comprehend, manage, and find meaning in stressful events.

Five Domains of PTG

Greater appreciation of life and changed priorities; warmer, more intimate relationships; a greater sense of personal strength; recognition of new possibilities; and spiritual development.

Intrusive Rumination

Automatic, repetitive, and often distressing thoughts and images concerning a traumatic event that occur without a direct cue.

Deliberate Cognitive Processing

A conscious and purposeful form of event-related thinking involved in making sense of events, problem-solving, and constructing new schemas.

Social Constraint

The blocking or discouragement of self-disclosure regarding intrusive thoughts, which can inhibit cognitive processing and increase the risk of depression.

Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth

The process by which lessons learned from trauma and growth narratives are spread to others through stories of survival.

Dialectical Thinking

A type of cognitive complexity observed in trauma survivors who recognize paradoxes, such as experiencing strength at a time of extreme vulnerability.

Cortisol Habituation

A physical response to stressors that has been found to occur more quickly in individuals with high spiritual growth and appreciation for life.

Social Transformation

Change at the societal level where shared narratives and schemas are revised following widespread crises like the Great Depression or World War II.

Life Narrative

The evolving internal story an individual creates to provide their life with a sense of unity and purpose, often divided into chapters marked by traumatic events.

Wisdom

The ability to balance reflection and action, weigh life unknowns, and address fundamental existential questions.