The Counseling Collective

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Can Trauma Help You Grow?

It goes without saying... no one wants to experience trauma, no one in their right mind would suggest that trauma is a good thing, but in this broken world, trauma and suffering are inevitable to some degree. But what exactly happens when people experience trauma? Can they experience resilience? Will life ever be the same? Is there any hope?

Documented by hundreds of studies, a psychological phenomenon called POST TRAUMATIC GROWTH is what happens when trauma changes and deepens life's meaning. Stephen Joseph, a psychologist at the University of Nottingham, describes victims of trauma experiencing..

  • Enhanced relationships

  • Greater self-acceptance

  • A heightened appreciation of life

The existence of this type of post-traumatic growth suggests to us that though the pain of trauma never fully vanishes, something new and powerful is likely to be formed by our pain. Our ultimate wish is that no one experience trauma, the reality is that this just isn't possible. All of us will encounter pain and suffering at some point in our lives.

How can we allow the trauma from our lives to transform us? Allowing us to become more compassionate and empathetic as people? Can we learn to create a way of living with trauma that allows us to bring new meaning to our lives?

Read more at https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/can-trauma-help-you-grow