What Are The 5 Stages Of Post Traumatic Growth? How To Get Started?

Post traumatic growth is the positive effect that a traumatic experience can have on you. Although you’ve paid a huge price for that positive growth, at least you can get some good things out of that traumatic experience you had.

In fact, it’s always better to look for a silver lining in all the testing times that are put in. It builds hope and hope is the ray of light that helps you find a way out of that dark, scary dungeon. Post traumatic growth is that ray of light for people who have hit rock bottom in their ocean of traumatic experiences.

There are 5 stages/phases of post traumatic growth. These stages help you return to normalcy in life and recreate a happy and healthy life for yourself. A wise man once said, “If Opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door!”

Trauma will not let you find a way to get out of it, you’ll have to do it yourself. Here are 5 stages of post traumatic growth so that you can understand how growth happens. Not just that, we will also discuss ways to achieve post traumatic growth.

Shall we begin?

The 5 Phases/Stages Of Post Traumatic Growth

Post Traumatic Growth Definition– Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) is a positive psychological and developmental change you go through because of a traumatic experience. You learn and grow because of the crisis you’ve dealt with in your life. PTG happens when you don’t let trauma weigh you down.

Post traumatic growth is all about finding meaning and purpose in whatever is happening to you. To do that you will have to focus of these aspects and domains of post traumatic growth;

1. Personal Strength:

personal strength is all about how you choose to deal with all the stress, anxiety and undirected energy that you have. Many people choose to use this tension and energy in engaging in risky behaviors like intoxication, smoking, drug use, etc. Personal strength is built only when you make a wise choice of using your energy to do proactive activities like exercising, learning new things, going on an adventure, etc.

2. New Possibilities:

when someone goes through trauma, their entire view of the world changes. Things that made it to your priority list are no longer in it. You may find completely different things that attract you now. This is a sign you should look for new possibilities in your life. What really makes you happy? Post-traumatic growth helps you find meaningful possibilities in life other than the ones you had pre-trauma.

3. Relating To Others:

for post-traumatic growth social support is very important, not just of your peers but also from people who have been through traumatic experiences. Knowing that you are not alone can also be of great help. After trauma you begin to see the world differently and it’s the best time to get to know people who add meaning to your life. It’s also the time to get professional help for yourself.

4. Cherish the little joys of life:

life is not about the happiness of a huge success but about the tiny little joys of small achievements. This is one of the most important domains of Post-traumatic growth. You begin to appreciate small things in life like a good hot meal, the sunrise, the blossoming of your peace lily, etc.

5. Spiritual change:

during and after many people tend to think about “why did this happen to me?”, “how will i live now?”, etc. But when you are on the path of post-traumatic growth you see a spiritual change in your life. You have seen death up close and you know what it feels like to be in a life-threatening crisis. A spiritual change helps you get past those feelings of mortality.

That’s all about the 5 domains of post-traumatic growth. While you are going through post traumatic growth these are the five aspects that will help you see the world and your life differently and will help you move on with your life.

Now, these 5 phases of post-traumatic growth don’t really have an order. You can experience them in any order and once you are on the road to recovery there is no looking back. If you are a trauma survivor this knowledge about the 5 domains of post traumatic growth is going to be of great help during the recovery process.

Want to know about getting started with post-traumatic growth? Here are some tips for you;

Tips To Achieve Post Traumatic Growth | How To Get Started?

Achieving post-traumatic growth can be a long process. I say so because trauma can make a huge dent in your mind and to repair that dent you will need to invest some time and energy. Post-traumatic growth is achievable but what’s not difficult is getting started with it.

Here are few tiny tips for you to get started with post-traumatic growth;

• Acknowledge your experiences and feeling
• Learn to process them rather than suppressing them
• Talk about your trauma with your confidants
• Have a social support network
• Build a sense of belongingness in your community or build you own community to thrive
• Seek mental health help

Final Thoughts

Post-traumatic growth happens through the 5 phases of post-traumatic stress. Trauma destroys your whole life and post traumatic growth helps you pick these pieces up and build a beautifully unique world for yourself.

That’s all on the 5 domains of post-traumatic growth and how to achieve post traumatic growth. I hope you found this blog helpful. Do share your thoughts on Post-traumatic growth in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading.

Take care and stay safe.