ABSTRACT
Post-traumatic growth is the idea that trauma can often be a transformational force for positive change. This chapter provides a positive therapy view of trauma. Post-traumatic growth has three main facets: People often report that their relationships are enhanced in some way, survivors change their views of themselves in some way and there are often reports of changes in life philosophy. Numerous studies show that problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies are related to growth. Prati and Pietrantoni, who conducted a meta-analysis of studies showing that optimism, social support, spirituality, acceptance coping, reappraisal coping, religious coping and seeking social support were associated with post-traumatic growth. The characteristics of the fully functioning person are synonymous with those of post-traumatic growth. Organismic valuing process theory holds that it is human nature to rebuild a new assumptive world that positively accommodates the new trauma-related information.
