ABSTRACT
Research has suggested that not all reports of posttraumatic growth (PTG) may reflect “actual” changes, leading to the idea of illusory growth. The main purpose of this chapter is to propose a way to apply a PTG theoretical model to distinguish between PTG and illusory growth. The chapter starts with the background of PTG research. Second, we outline a PTG theoretical model most commonly used in PTG research and explain the key components of the model. Third, we review multiple methods of defining illusory growth that have been used in the literature. Fourth, we discuss challenges in commonly defined illusory growth and propose an alternative idea of applying the PTG theoretical model to explain the differences between PTG and illusory growth. Fifth, we provide empirical findings based on a cross-national study to demonstrate the applicability of this method of distinguishing PTG from illusory growth. The chapter concludes with theoretical and clinical implications and identifies future directions in this field.
