The recent national tragedy in Tucson has highlighted individual differences in coping with a tragedy. Oftentimes, media attention is drawn to negative aspects of coping with trauma, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is true that being a survivor of a traumatic event - or even potentially vicariously witnessing it through media coverage - can be associated with unpleasant symptoms such as flashbacks, numbness, and emotional flooding. Yet experiencing a traumatic event - however scary and disorienting it can be - can also serve as an opportunity to grow in unexpected and positive ways. There are different terms for this phenomenon, such as 'resilience' and 'post-traumatic growth', but essentially it involves existential and structural change. What do I mean by this? I am referring to being shaken to your core after a stressful event and having to face challenging questions about your life and its meaning. Questions such as: Who am I? What is my purpose? Why did I live (while others died)? I use the terms "existential" and "structural" because trauma survivors must answer these basic questions of existence; and oftentimes these survivors are not the same person they were before the event. Although the latter often involves loss of some aspect of self-identity, going through a period of struggling can also allow a person to discover strengths he or she didn't realize they had.If you have more interest in learning about these subjects, I would recommend an online brochure on resilience offered by the American Psychological Association. I also wrote my dissertation on positive buffers of terrorism-related anxiety , including resilience, social support, and spirituality. This is a good resource for a more detailed empirical focus on this subject.
