90% of people THRIVE after challenges

We often hear about posttraumatic stress, but since the 1990s, experts have been researching a phenomenon called post-traumatic growth.

The emerging field of psychological study focuses on the positive shifts that can occur in an individual after encountering adversity. In fact, research on the transformative power of suffering finds that up to 90 percent of victims experience at least one aspect of post-traumatic growth—benefits like a greater appreciation for life, an increased sense of strength or a recognition of new possibilities—and 50 percent experience multiple benefits. And while this growth doesn’t erase past pain, it can lead to faster recovery and the discovery of meaningful lessons that would not have otherwise been found, says Lawrence Calhoun, Ph.D., a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who helped name the condition and developed a scale to measure it.

Post-traumatic growth isn’t about getting back to where you were before suffering, it’s about thriving beyond that point— achieving heightened states of joy and awareness. And while experts believe this type of success is nearly universally available, they have identified lifestyle factors that make it more likely to occur, including an individual’s spirituality, social support and ability to accept situations they can’t change. “It’s the struggle that changes people, not the event itself,” says Dr. Calhoun, coauthor of Posttraumatic Growth: Theory, Research, and Applications, who notes that these benefits are available even to those facing the most challenging circumstances.