School of Health Sciences, University of Akureyri, Akureyri, Iceland.
Scand J Caring Sci. 2022 Sep;36(3):752-768. doi: 10.1111/scs.13037. Epub 2021 Oct 28.
Many people experience psychological trauma during their lifetime, often negatively affecting their mental and physical health. Post-traumatic growth is a positive psychological change that may occur in an individual after having processed and coped with trauma. This journey, however, has not been studied enough.
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore people's experience of suffering psychological trauma, the personal effects of the trauma and the transition from trauma to post-traumatic growth.
A purposeful sample of seven women and five men, aged 34-52, were selected whose backgrounds and history of trauma varied, but who had all experienced post-traumatic growth. One to two interviews were conducted with each one, in all 14 interviews.
This study introduces a unique mapping of the challenging journey from trauma to post-traumatic growth through lived experiences of people who have experienced trauma as well as post-traumatic growth. Participants had different trauma experience, but their suffering shaped them all as persons and influenced their wellbeing, health and view of life. Participants described post-traumatic growth as a journey, rather than a destination. There was a prologue to their journey which some described as a hindering factor while others felt it was a good preparation for post-traumatic growth, i.e. to overcome difficulties at an early age. Participants described six main influencing factors on their post-traumatic growth, both facilitating and hindering ones. They also described the positive personal changes they had undergone when experiencing post-traumatic growth even though the epilogue also included heavy days. A new theoretical definition of post-traumatic growth was constructed from the findings.
The results suggest that the journey to post-traumatic growth includes a recovery process and certain influencing factors that must be considered. This information has implications for professionals treating and supporting people who have suffered traumas.
许多人在一生中都会经历心理创伤，这通常会对他们的身心健康产生负面影响。创伤后成长是个体在处理和应对创伤后可能发生的一种积极的心理变化。然而，这一过程还没有得到足够的研究。
本现象学研究旨在探讨人们经历心理创伤的体验、创伤对个人的影响，以及从创伤到创伤后成长的转变。
选择了 7 名女性和 5 名年龄在 34-52 岁之间的男性，他们的背景和创伤经历各不相同，但都经历了创伤后成长。对每个人进行了 1 到 2 次访谈，共进行了 14 次访谈。
本研究通过经历过创伤和创伤后成长的人的生活经历，介绍了从创伤到创伤后成长这一具有挑战性的旅程的独特映射。参与者的创伤经历不同，但他们的痛苦都塑造了他们作为个体的人，并影响了他们的幸福感、健康和人生观。参与者将创伤后成长描述为一个旅程，而不是一个目的地。他们的旅程有一个序幕，有些人认为这是一个阻碍因素，而另一些人则认为这是创伤后成长的良好准备，即年轻时克服困难。参与者描述了对他们的创伤后成长有影响的六个主要因素，既有促进因素也有阻碍因素。他们还描述了在经历创伤后成长时所经历的积极的个人变化，尽管尾声也包括艰难的日子。从研究结果中构建了创伤后成长的新理论定义。
研究结果表明，创伤后成长之旅包括一个恢复过程和必须考虑的某些影响因素。这些信息对治疗和支持经历过创伤的人的专业人员具有重要意义。
