ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of post-traumatic growth and, drawing on developing clinical experience in this area, some guidelines on how it can be promoted. Post-traumatic growth is a new topic for research and clinical intervention that promises to be of considerable interest to those involved in working with police officers who have experienced traumatic events and to police officers themselves and those managing police officers. Various self-report psychometric tests are available with which to assess post-traumatic growth. Research into the clinical facilitation of post-traumatic growth among survivors of a variety of events is beginning to flourish, with reports of interventions with war veterans, cancer patients, survivors of sexual abuse, and terrorism, for example, reporting positive results. The perception of benefits, in turn, may lead to higher levels of psychological functioning and improved health. Research indicates that reports of growth are related to longer-term adaptation such as lower levels of depression, post-traumatic stress as well as higher levels of well-being.
