Bereavement, post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth: through the lenses of positive psychology

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground: During the past decades we have learned a lot about the psychopathology that can be triggered from adversity, but our knowledge of the qualities developed and processes experienced by people who remain healthy despite having gone through trauma has been limited. A proposed area within positive psychology is the psychology of loss. Psychology of loss emphasizes the study of healthy individuals, the resources they use for adapting to loss, and the ways in which they can transform their losses into personal growth and strength. Under the theoretical umbrella of positive psychology, the construct of post-traumatic growth has also received increased scholarly attention in recent years. Post-traumatic growth is a concept and a construct that reflects the ‘positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances’ (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Numerous empirical studies have described the phenomenon after various traumas, including traumati...