PTSD positive change is possible.
Do you think of trauma as beneficial? Have you considered the good your PTSD could bring?
Most of us can list the PTSD negatives and the harm of trauma without much effort. Yet, the idea of PTSD positive change and any potential help created by trauma may not readily spring to mind. In the midst of your hurt, the physical, mental, and emotional pain may be too overwhelming at first. In fact, you may even be a bit offended at the suggestion that you could benefit from trauma at all. However, as time goes on, you may discover for yourself what many trauma sufferers do: real and measurable growth is happening. And your life is yielding positive returns.
Indeed, experts assert that PTSD positive change, or post-traumatic growth (PTG), is a specific kind of internal strength and drive that is born of your most difficult experiences. For some people, these benefits feel “secret” or unlikely because the trauma, crisis, and struggles that preceded them were so trying or terrible.
Let’s examine 4 such benefits and indicators of PTSD positive change:
1. Mental Benefits of Trauma: Nuanced Thinking
Cognitive Flexibility or the ability to see things that have happened to you on a spectrum of experiences may be one benefit of trauma. At first, you may have felt terribly wounded or taken advantage of. The sense that the world was untrustworthy, even that you couldn't trust yourself, may have dominated your thinking. Yet, over time, your thoughts may have transformed.
Instead of ruminating on the horrors of your experience you might have benefitted from processing the memories and learning to see them with varying degrees of trust. The idea that your experience can be seen from different perspectives, with other conclusions drawn about the people and motivations involved, signals mental resilience and healing. Your mind benefits in that it has allowed itself to become unstuck and grown positively despite your PTSD.
2. Somatic (Bodily) Benefits of Trauma: Mind/Body Awareness
By and large, trauma is stored in the nervous system. Your brain and body are held in an ongoing tension that is disquieting, uncomfortable, and often chronically painful. The benefit of such tension serves to make you aware of how linked your mind is to your body.
You cannot and should not attempt to sever the tie between what you experience mentally and internalize bodily. It’s no good for your health and keeps you stuck in an unprocessed past. The PTSD positive change you eventually enjoy when working with a qualified therapist is that your no longer held hostage by your reaction, panic responses, or pain. You can read your body, soothe it, and let the fear go. You can gain a truer sense of just how sensitive and capable you are.
3. Emotional/Spiritual Benefits of Trauma: Renewed Meaning and Purpose
When trauma causes emotional pain that leads to the stuck, persistent symptoms linked to PTSD, positive change often comes through the ability to seek and create meaning. How often have you heard people say that “everything happens for a reason” or that “ what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger?” This communicates that trauma becomes a positive catalyst for optimism, hope and a sense of meaningful order. By enduring agony, you might feel you’ve profited wisdom and direction that wouldn’t have come otherwise. You may realize that you want and need to make the most of your life and experiences. This is often the PTSD positive change that fuels the most transformation in worldview, self-compassion, and ability to embrace treatment successfully. You gain insight, an open mind, and freedom.
4. Relational Benefits of Trauma: Altruism and Connection
In key ways, trauma and PTSD shrink your world terribly. Yet, this isn’t all bad. Allowing yourself to slowly and intentionally become involved with key people post-trauma can support positive change in relationships. If you’ve been hurt by people or their actions, considerable growth can come from exposure to safe, reliable people. Engaging in a reciprocal away with a therapist first, and then others over time, can lead to a deeper desire to share, give and serve others. The trauma that isolated you for a while can become the foundation for your compassion toward others and your gratitude for the support available to you. You gain a sense of engagement and community.
With PTSD Positive Change, More Good Can Come From Your Trauma. Let Your Therapist Help You Out.
You are a survivor. But you are also so much more. Your trauma is beneficial not simply because you lived to tell the tale but because your pain and suffering can be harnessed. You can share a narrative of strength you could have never told before. Your trauma needn’t be your persistent weakness but a superpower meant to free your mind, body, and relationships going forward. Work toward making PTSD positive change a reality.
Reach out to a qualified trauma therapist and start the healing process soon. If you would like support and are looking for a psychotherapist, please contact us for a free consultation to learn about how we can be of service.
To find out more about our services click here: PTSD Treatment. Serving Boulder, Longmont, Denver.
For your other needs, you can count on April Lyons Psychotherapy Group, to help you heal and grow through EMDR therapy, somatic therapy, and trauma therapy – because we believe in your strength and potential for recovery.
