MHA Vice-President of External Affairs Jenna Velez recently published an article about the concept of Post-Traumatic Growth in Behavioral Health News. Find a sneak peek below.
Priming for Post-Traumatic Growth
There is no shortage of media attention to the mental health impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is so important to raise awareness of this, in order to diminish the stigma, normalize the experience, and help give people the tools they need to navigate through these challenging and unprecedented times. We have a long road ahead of us in terms of emotional recovery from this, and that should not be underestimated. Many people will require the help of mental health professionals and this needs to be normalized and encouraged. However, it is also important to highlight and reinforce that the majority of individuals will actually demonstrate resilience through these times. Furthermore, we can also anticipate seeing good numbers of people experiencing lasting positive change, referred to as Post-Traumatic Growth. We know this because outcomes following trauma and adversity fall along a bell-shaped curve, with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other depressive/anxiety disorders at one end, Post-Traumatic Growth at the other extreme, and resilience across the middle. This does not mean, however, that responses during the trauma are predictive of the later outcome.