“WHAT DOESN’T KILL ME MAKES ME STRONGER” ARE THE ADVERSE LIFE EVENTS THE PREREQUISITE FOR MATURATION AND GROWTH?
Abstract
The relationship between adversity and growth iswell documented.1 Religion, philosophy andliterature is full of the examples that showed thatsome level of adversity is necessary for maturationand growth. This is also the central theme of thehumanistic and existential movements of psychologythat a confrontation with tragedy is often precursorsto self-actualisation. Viktor Frankl wrote about thewill to meaning following his experiences inTheresienstadt and Auschwitz are common examplesof this idea.2 Nietzsche’s famous dictum, “Whatdoesn’t kill me makes me stronger” is the sameexpression of this idea. It is not the event itself butthe subjective cognitive appraisal and struggle to theadversity is related to growth.1 Researchers have useda number of different terms to describe individuals’reports of positive outcomes in the face of adversity,including posttraumatic growth, adversarial growth,benefit-finding, stress-related growth, perceivedbenefits and thriving etc.3 Each term refers to aslightly different phenomenon. Several models havebeen proposed regarding the occurrence ofPosttraumatic Growth. These include the FunctionalDescriptive Model4, Organismic Valuing Theory5 andBiopsychosocial-Evolutionary Theory. Althoughwith some variation, these models hypothesise thatthe experience of a highly stressful or traumatic eventshatters an individual’s basic beliefs about the selfand the world. In terms of that the persons perceivesthe changes in relationship with others, personal lifephilosophy and spiritual changes.4Growth or positive outcomes have beenreported following a variety of traumatic experiences,including motor vehicle accidents6, terrorist attacks7,leukaemia8, and cardiac disease9, etc. Findingsshowed that growth is not equal in all sorts ofadversities. It depends upon the nature and intensityof the adversity. Moreover, the patterns are growth isdifferent across gender and age. For example studiesshowed that female exhibit more posttraumaticgrowth as compare to male,3 and age is positivelyassociated with stress symptoms and negatively withPosttraumatic Growth (PTG)10. Question arises howmuch adversity is sufficient for growth. Studiesshowed that very low level of trauma or high level oftrauma may is not associated with growth. However,a moderate level of trauma is associated with thegrowth. Mostly a curvilinear relation has been foundbetween PTG and adversity, i.e., a moderate level ofadversity is associated with positive growth.11,12 Thefocus of the most of the past researches was touncover the adverse consequences of the traumaticaccidents. Hence, the association of psychopathologyand adversity is well studied. There is scarcity ofresearch on this aspect of relationship between theadversity and growth. This editorial is aimed to raiseinterest to conduct the studies that find the predictiverole of daily life stressor to positive changes andmaturity.Adversities are the integral part of life andcannot be avoided. Despite constant avoidance, wehave to face adversities. These cannot be eliminatedbut can be managed with proper adversitymanagement trainings. Adversities are the bestmentors. Although we strive to avoid adversities andprotect the children from bad events. Over protectiveparenting may hinder the growth and maturity of theoffspring’s by buffering and providing shields themfrom the real life challenges and problems of life.Parents should give the children space to resolvedaily life difficulties and challenges. It will help tolead them to the deliberate ruminations, increase theirconfidence, self efficacy, problem solving abilitiesand decision making skills. On this children mightdevelop the sense that they have to ‘live withproblems’ and ‘problem-free life’ does not exist.Instead of dwelling on the problems they have to dealit. As a result they come out of adversity with newstrengths and with better coping skills. As most of thecurrent social scientists suggest that some shockingexperience is necessary for a child to be a realisticperson.References
Calhoun LG, Tedeschi RG. The foundations of posttraumatic
growth: An expanded framework. In: Calhoun LG, Tedeschi
RG. (Eds.), Handbook of posttraumatic growth: Research and
practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; 2006. p. 3–23.
Meyerson AD, Grant EK, Carter SM, Kilmer PR.
Posttraumatic growth among children and adolescents: A
systematic review. Clin Psychol Rev 2011;31:949–64.
Helgeson, Reynolds, Tomich PL. A meta-analytic review of
benefit finding and growth. J Consult Clin Psychol
;74(5):797–816.
Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG. Posttraumatic growth:
Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychol
Inquir 2004;15(1):1–18.
J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 2012;24(2)
http://www.ayubmed.edu.pk/JAMC/24-2/Editorial.pdf
Joseph S, Linley PA. Growth following adversity:
Theoretical perspectives and implications for clinical
practice. Clin Psychol Rev 2006;26:1041–53.
Wang Y, Wang H, Wang J, Wu J, Liu, X. Prevalence and
predictors of posttraumatic growth in accidentally injured
patients. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 2013;20(1):3–12.
Park CL, Aldwin CM, Fenster JR, Snyder LB. Pathways to
posttraumatic growth versus posttraumatic stress: Coping and
emotional reactions following the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks. Am J Orthopsychiatry 2008;78:300–12.
Danhauer SC, Russell GB, Tedeschi RG, Jesse MT,
Vishnevsky T, Daley K, et al. A longitudinal investigation of
posttraumatic growth in adult patients undergoing treatment
for acute leukemia. J Clin Psychol Med Settings
;20(1):13–24.
Ai AL, Hall D, Pargament K, Tice TN. Posttraumatic growth
in patients who survived cardiac surgery: the predictive and
mediating roles of faith-based factors. J Behav Med
;36(2):186–98.
Kimhi S, Eshel Y, Zysberg L, Hantman S. Postwar winners
and losers in the long run: determinants of war related stress
symptoms and posttraumatic growth. Community Ment
Health J 2010;46(1):10–9.
Laufer A, Solomon Z. Posttraumatic symptoms and
posttraumatic growth among Israeli youth exposed to terror
incidents. J Soc Clin Psychol 2006;25:429–47.
Levine SZ, Laufer A, Hamama-Raz Y, Stein E. Solomon Z.
Posttraumatic growth in adolescence: Examining its
components and relationship with PTSD. J Trauma Stress
;21:492–6.
Khan W. Bachoun Ki Tarbiyat. [Urdu] Al-Risala
;433:20–21.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad is an OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL which means that all content is FREELY available without charge to all users whether registered with the journal or not. The work published by J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad is licensed and distributed under the creative commons License CC BY ND Attribution-NoDerivs. Material printed in this journal is OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. The Editorial Board of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad or the Editorial Board.
USERS are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
AUTHORS retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including twitter, scholarly collaboration networks such as ResearchGate, Academia.eu, and social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and any other professional or academic networking site.