1.Life events – relationship breakdowns, parental divorce, bereavement, emigration and financial loss.
2.Interpersonal assaults – combat, sexual violence and child abuse.
3.Illnesses – cancer, heart attacks and any other life threatening diseases.
4.Natural disasters – earthquakes, volcanic explosions and hurricanes.
5.Transportation accidents – aeroplane crashes, motor vehicle crashes etc.
.
According to top psychologists there are five main ways in which we can ‘benefit’ from the post traumatic growth that can occur post trauma.
1. Building our personal resilience, thus allowing us to deal with any future adversity easier.
2. Closer relationships, when we experience great challenges and the support of friends and family becomes critical we soon see who our ‘real’ friends are. Sometimes some people you thought would ‘be’ there for you aren’t and sometimes people you never thought would be, are.
3. A love for life, often a great appreciation of the beauty to be found in life whether it be in nature or observing simple acts of kindness as well as a ‘zest’ for life become the norm once we are faced with our own mortality, adversity can be the ‘wake up’ call we need.
4. New possibilities and priorities, what we deemed important before our traumatic experience may not seem important at all, instead we have a new set of priorities.
5. Spiritual or religious growth, often after trauma we will develop a new philosophy for our future, a new reason for why we are here on earth and what the purpose of life is. Often by finding new meaning in our lives we can speed up our healing process. Trauma survivor’s are often more empathetic and compassionate people.
