Post Traumatic GROWTH
Posted on October 16th, 2011
Post Traumatic Growth
What a great concept!
A reporter, Kimberly Dozier, used the description during an interview about her new book, “Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Survive, and Get Back to the Fight,” in which she recounts her struggle to stay alive, her survivor's guilt, and her road to recovery. She and her news crew had been covering a routine patrol in Baghdad when they were hit by a car bomb that left four people dead and Dozier with massive injuries to her legs and head.
In the interview, Ms. Dozier was highlighting the importance of hiring veterans and emphasizing that potential employers – instead of being concerned about Post Traumatic Stress – should instead be aware of the value of Post Traumatic Growth.
It is so pithy – yet says so much. It involves so many of the techniques I use in my coaching and reinforces the way of the brain.
- Time and again, I have seen with my clients and my own experience that the bigger the trauma survived, the more wisdom and strength gained.
The old axiom, “If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger,” is so true.
- Using the phrase, “Post Traumatic Growth,” in place of, “Post Traumatic Stress,” creates actual and real changes in the brain. Relabeling has been shown on brain scans to lower activity in the part of the brain that reacts emotionally (the amygdala) and to heighten activity in the part of the brain that inhibits emotions (the anterior cingulated cortex).
Isn’t that amazing – and wonderful? Just changing one word will change the brain and make us feel better. Not fake-better, but real-better.
- Choosing to change one little word is taking turtle-steps … which is the best way for the brain to heal, learn, and change.
- Choosing to use the word “Growth” instead of “Stress” sends our brain down a different neural pathway. We truly cannot think two different thoughts at the same time. We can switch back and forth – sometimes so quickly that we’re barely aware that we’re switching. But we cannot think “Growth” and “Stress” at the exact same moment.
If we automatically stick with the word, “Stress,” our brain will be more prone to produce negative, helpless, anxiety-provoking images and thoughts.
Deliberately changing the word to “Growth,” frees our brain to think strong, productive, creative, optimistic thoughts, full of hope and belief. Good, energizing neurochemicals will accompany these thoughts… allowing us to start devising and acting on possibilities and strategies.
Which neural pathway would you prefer?
[If you decide – for whatever personal reason you have – to choose the word “Stress,” just be aware that it is a deliberate choice or a habit that can be changed with repetition and minimal effort. That awareness will lessen the negative effect in the brain.]
- Changing one word is manageable, and it can change our life. Robert Maurer, Ph.D. wrote in his book, “One Small Step Can Change Your Life – The Kaizen Way” that small steps circumvent the brain’s built-in resistance to new behavior.
Let’s all start using the new phrase, Post Traumatic Growth !