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Mentoring 901:
Post-Traumatic Growth Desire (PTGD) A common element of recent psychological interventions has been to consider trauma as a debilitating event that must be overcome, eliminated or reduced. And there is no doubt that the initial traumatic event can have devastating personal, psychological, social, cognitive and physical consequences. Childhood traumas can have a negative impact all through adulthood; and trauma experienced through accidents, war, and other intense emotional experiences can have lasting, and unwanted effects on adults as well as children. This perspective, that trauma has lasting, unwanted and debilitating consequences, has spawned a huge industry of professionals, publications, and systems all dedicated to treating and eventually reducing or curtailing the impact of the original trauma. Many of these approaches have been highly successful, some are totally useless, and some even recreate or strengthen the trauma. But what if the mind, body and spirit reaction to trauma (often called "post-traumatic stress disorder" or "PTSD") is actually a signal that is informing a person that the body, mind and spirit are ready to take on a new path, a new growth, and further human development and evolution? What if, instead of perceiving or treating the trauma reaction as a negative function, it is treated as a positive element? That is, the trauma reaction is an element that is giving a person clues as to how to grow, flourish, and develop? Because we have become so attuned to treating or perceiving trauma as a negative feature, we have lost our natural ability to read the clues, "symptoms," or reactions as something that we want, desire or value. Our contemporary life has no room to consider these factors as having positive value. Our goal is to change all of that and enable people with trauma reactions to listen to cues in a different way that will result in growth and liberation from trauma. Trauma is not something to be feared; it is something to be avoided and prevented, yes; but it can be a springboard to improved health, success, and learning. |
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