Trauma Helps Us Grow
Scott Barry Kaufman: Deep & Profound Topic of Post-Traumatic Growth
3 min read · 28.7.2025
“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.”
—Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
“Growth after trauma—creativity, a great sense of purpose, a greater sense of spirituality, greater connectedness.”
—Scott Barry Kaufman
“Make no doubt: trauma shakes up our world and forces us to take an- other look at our cherished goals and dreams.
“Tedeschi and Calhoun use the metaphor of the seismic earthquake: we tend to rely on a particular set of beliefs and assumptions about the benevolence and controllability of the world, and traumatic events typically shatter that worldview as we become shaken from our ordinary perceptions and are left to rebuild ourselves and our worlds.
“But what choice do we have?
“As Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl put it,
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
“In recent years, psychologists have begun to understand the psychological processes that turn adversity into advantage, and what is becoming clear is that this “psychologically seismic” restructuring is actually necessary for growth to occur.
“It is precisely when the foundational structure of the self is shaken that we are in the best position to pursue new opportunities in our lives.
“Similarly, the Polish psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski argued that “positive disintegration” can be a growth-fostering experience.
“After studying a number of people with high psychological development, Dabrowski concluded that healthy personality development often requires the disintegration of the personality structure, which can temporarily lead to psychological tension, self-doubt, anxiety, and depression.
“However, Dabrowski believed this process can lead to a deeper examination of what one could be and ultimately higher levels of personality development.
“A key factor that allows us to turn adversity into advantage is the extent
to which we fully explore our thoughts and feelings surrounding the event.
“Cognitive exploration—which can be defined as a general curiosity about information and a tendency toward complexity and flexibility in information processing—enables us to be curious about confusing situations, increasing the likelihood that we will find new meaning in the seemingly incomprehensible.
“To be sure, many of the steps that lead to growth after trauma go against our natural inclinations to avoid extremely uncomfortable emotions and thoughts.
“However, it’s only through shedding our natural defense mechanisms and approaching the discomfort head on,
viewing everything as fodder for growth,
that we can start to embrace the inevitable paradoxes of life and come to a more nuanced view of reality.”
Reference:
Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D. Post-Traumatic Growth: Finding Meaning and Creativity in Adversity. Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization. Blog ScottBarryKaufman.com. 21.4.2020.
