Spiritual Intelligence and Posttraumatic Growth

The Process of Posttraumatic Growth

In the model of posttraumatic growth described by Tedeschi and Calhoun, trauma is seen as a challenger of beliefs that one has held about the course of one's life, one's character, the ways one could expect other people to behave, or the kind of world we live in. These beliefs have been described as the assumptive world, that is, the core beliefs about the world as we assume it will be. Traumatic events challenge these assumptions. When this happens, trauma survivors need to rethink their assumptions and come up with a revised set of assumptions that better account for the trauma and may serve them better in the future. At some point in the aftermath of trauma, survivors may come to realize that, even though they have suffered greatly, they have also learned some valuable lessons about living their lives. These changes may occur over fairly long time frames for some individuals—even several years.

Not all persons facing trauma report posttraumatic growth. Not all events that may appear to be traumatic violate the assumptive world, and when people hold core beliefs that allow them to understand the trauma and not be shocked by it, the process of posttraumatic growth is essentially unnecessary. The belief system can already account for the trauma and does not need to be changed. Conversely, some people do not experience posttraumatic growth because the events are so devastating and their capacity to cope is not up to the task of psychologically processing the events and their aftermath. However, it is important to recognize that distress in the [Page 649]aftermath of trauma and posttraumatic growth are not mutually exclusive. People reporting posttraumatic growth also report that they are distressed by the trauma, and growth does not wipe away their suffering. Instead, the posttraumatic growth produces suffering that has some meaning or value, and for this reason is more tolerable. This recognition that something of value has emerged in the aftermath of something tragic requires an appreciation of paradox. People who are able to see things in terms of such paradoxes may be more able to perceive positive changes despite their suffering. This ability to perceive or interpret events in this way may have something in common with spiritual intelligence.

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