Most great instigators of social change have intimate personal knowledge of trauma. Oprah Winfrey comes to mind as do Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela and Elli Wiesel. Read the life history of any visionary and you will find insights and passions that came from having dealt with devastation. The same is true of societies. Many of our most profound advances grew out of experiencing trauma….the abolition of the Slave Trave from the civil war, Social security from The Great Depression…”
(Source: Bessel Van Der Kolk The Body Keeps The Score p 356 Published by Penguin)
Perhaps one of the hardest issues in dealing with abuse it that we can underestimate and be impatient with the time it can take for many of us. It would be really great if we could just close the door on the past and jump into a happy future within a couple of sessions of counselling or having read a few self help books. However, for most of us growth and recovery happens over time and in phases.
If we think of the Phased Approach to Trauma Informed Practice the final and third phase is called Integration and includes the idea of what is known as “Post Traumatic Growth.” (PTG).
Post-traumatic growth is seen by some as the ability to transform trauma and use adversity to your advantage. Nietzsche may have hinted at the existence of post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the 19th Century, who coined the phrase “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” The scientific study of the PTG only emerged in the 1990s, with pioneering research by the psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun in 1996. “Post-traumatic growth is not simply a return to baseline – it is an experience of improvement that for some persons is deeply profound.” Tedeschi and Calhoun wrote in one of their early papers. However you may not be in that place right now and that’s OK, Don’t put pressure on yourself to be further on than you are. Honour your journey.
For more information about Into The Light Services that can help you on your journey from trauma please email us on info@intothelight.org.uk