Post-Traumatic Growth: Advanced Clinical Applications

While the treatment of trauma and post-traumatic stress are among the most common reasons clients seek the support of a therapist, post-traumatic growth is perhaps one of the most overlooked and underserved areas of psychology and mental health today. As opposed to typical treatment methods, which encourage the functional restoration of a trauma survivor to pre-trauma levels, this approach takes a different stance on trauma recovery. Post-traumatic growth embraces the transcendence of the trauma, rather than simply resolving symptoms or minimizing impacts. Those facilitating post-traumatic growth promote client strength and in so doing encourage more than mere survival of the trauma. The goal of this approach is, instead, the utilization of the experience as a catalyst for life-altering growth.

This is an advanced course consisting of four text articles and one audio file. The first document presents and defines post-traumatic growth, explores the current statistics on post-traumatic growth and explains its clinical benefit. The second document uncovers the etiology and specific process of post-traumatic growth describing the fundamental concepts and exploring the individual factors and characteristics that are associated with post-traumatic growth. The third document discusses the five domains of post-traumatic growth, uncovering the specific characteristics of each, and illuminating the processes in which these areas of growth occur. The fourth document presents specific skills the clinician can use to facilitate post-traumatic growth as well as the common presentation of the client undergoing post-traumatic growth. The fifth document is an audiotaped interview between Dr. Sage Breslin and Claire Dorotik-Nana, LMFT, that explores some real-life applications for PTG as well as some suggestions and indications for clinicians using PTG. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course.

Disclaimer: This course is purely educational and does not intend to serve as a license (or permission) to mental health professionals to prescribe or practice any of the approaches discussed in this course unless they fall within the scope of practice of your profession. Check with your licensing board about the scope of practice of your profession to make sure you practice within that scope. It also does not serve as a permission to title yourself in any specific way.