“The most beautiful people I’ve known are those who have known trials, have
known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.”– Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
Being able to overcome a challenge or difficulty in life, regardless of how small or large it may be to you, is the result of many factors. For example, a person’s age, the frequency of the traumatic event, and whether or not you have a stable support system are all factors that protect and help in healing from pain.
But one of the common denominators in our ability to overcome a challenging life event(s) is our framing of the event. How do we see what’s happened to us, and what do we think about our ability to overcome it?
In this post, I want to highlight two concepts illustrating the mind’s ability to heal from trauma.
It’s further evidence that you can overcome much adversity and pain when you work to balance your thinking and beliefs about yourself.
1) Posttraumatic Growth: How Thoughts and Attitudes Facilitate Healing
Posttraumatic growth means that you grow as a result of a painful event. Here is one definition from a Psychology Today post:
Posttraumatic Growth is the positive psychological change that some individuals experience after a life crisis or traumatic event. Posttraumatic growth doesn’t deny deep distress but rather posits that adversity can unintentionally yield changes in understanding oneself, others, and the world. Posttraumatic growth can, in fact, co-exist with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Several factors can facilitate posttraumatic growth in a person. But the common denominator in healing from trauma has to do with a person’s cognitions: how they think about, interpret, and perceive themselves and the events that happened to them.
2) Mindset: How You View Your Capacity to Overcome Trauma
Another concept that speaks to the power of your cognitive approach to healing from pain comes from the book Mindset by Carol Dweck.
Dr. Dweck is a psychologist from Stanford who has spent most of her career studying intelligence and personality. After decades of research, Dweck identifies two distinct types of thinking or attitudes influencing a person’s outcome and way of life.
These two ways of thinking are known as fixed or growth mindsets.
Someone with a fixed mindset views themselves and their ability as fixed and unchangeable. That is, the way you are now, with all of your flaws, weaknesses, strengths, and natural talent, is how you will be until you die. Things are fixed, and you can do little to change your abilities.
With a growth mindset, however, a person views their abilities as malleable to change. With a growth mindset, a person believes that with a lot of hard work and effort, they can change most things about themselves, their life, and their future.
To summarize, Dweck’s theory of mindset is evidence that by changing how you think about yourself and your circumstances you can change how you heal from trauma.
If you have a fixed mindset, then you will view trauma as unchangeable. But with a growth mindset, you are adopting the belief that through hard work and effort, you can heal and grow from difficult circumstances, even though pain and discomfort will be a part of that journey.
Her research speaks to the power of the mind and positive thinking in healing from adversity.
We Can Only Control How We Handle What Happens To Us
Over the last 20 years of working as a therapist, I’ve had the good fortune of seeing many people overcome personal challenges that seemed impossible at one point. These same challenges also changed their perspective on life.
But while there is much research to support the concept of posttraumatic growth and the power of the mind in overcoming adversity, there is no guarantee that everyone who experiences trauma will grow or become better because of it.
But with time and hard work, anything is possible.
Richard