Post-Traumatic Growth
When a person’s core beliefs are shattered in a way that makes steady change impossible, they may experience extreme psychological trauma that results in the collapse of everything they used to put their faith in. Psychologists who study this archetype of trauma discovered that after an event of this magnitude occurs in a person’s life, they take one of two possible paths. In the less common path, people turn to substance abuse or self-destructive behaviors. Extreme psychological distress often becomes the development for new psychiatric issues. In the more common path taken, people immediately search among friends, family, or other healthier means for new information or perspectives they can take to begin rebuilding themselves slowly to heal and become stronger. This path is associated with the concept of Post-Traumatic Growth. People who go down this path are often reported to later have a higher sense of purpose, compassion, and appreciation for life and those around them. Regardless of the circumstances, a person that venues down this path will typically overcome their trauma and grow stronger and more resolute in their life, becoming more prepared to face anguish in the future.
Logotherapy
Logotherapy, or "healing through meaning" was a therapeutic approach developed by the psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, is a therapeutic approach that involves focusing specifically on finding meaning in the suffering they had to endure. When there is a higher purpose that can be made to justify one’s suffering, it becomes much easier to bear the terrible situations. Logotherapy also helps individuals with finding their own reasons to motivate themselves to push further in their lives and to never give up. Over the span of his career, he helped thousands of patients who underwent traumatic events that made them feel helpless by using the concept that humans need a “why” to live for. Whether it be helping them connect to holistic beliefs to extract a meaningful explanation for the events in their lives or helping them recognize they are doing things for the people they love, his patients became more optimistic in facing the problems they encountered.
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Three basic concepts that Frankl emphasized were:
1. Freedom of Will- Humans are free to choose how they respond to life and are personally responsible for their choices. regardless of the circumstances.
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2. Will to Meaning - People are motivated to find meaning in everything and when they can't find it, they experience existential frustration and feelings of meaninglessness.
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3. Meaning of life - Every passing moment, people are called to answer the demands that life places on them. The focus is not on what we feel we deserve from life, but rather what our responsibility is to give to life.
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