Key Takeaways:
- Trauma is a common experience among military veterans and active duty service members, who also face an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Though trauma can lead to negative long-term consequences, it can also generate post-traumatic stress growth, or the positive personal transformation that comes as a result of your struggle.
- Trauma-informed care in a professional treatment setting can be the catalyst that helps you transform your trauma struggles into positive psychological change.
- Our veterans program at Defining Wellness Centers uses both trauma-informed and evidence-based practices to help veterans achieve holistic growth and healing after trauma.
Have you been traumatized from past experiences while serving our country in the military? You’re not alone. Many veterans and active duty service members struggle with the lingering and often unseen effects of trauma.
While the fallout for some can be mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there’s also increasing awareness of the opportunity that’s at stake: your trauma doesn’t mean you have to live with the damage forever. Instead, it can be a catalyst for positive psychological change, real transformation, and long-term growth.
Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the Military
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), you have about a 50-50 chance of experiencing trauma at some point in your life. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines trauma as any disturbing experience that results in significant:
- Fear
- Helplessness
- Confusion
- Dissociation
- Additional disruptive feelings
These feelings are so intense that they can have a long-lasting negative effect on your attitudes, behavior, and overall functioning. It’s common to associate trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder with the military. After all, dangerous and often traumatic situations can regularly occur in military service, shares NAMI. Such situations may include war, life-threatening situations, sexual assault, and injuries or accidents.
As a result of their experiences during service, military veterans often have trauma symptoms and comorbid depression, anxiety, or substance abuse, shares Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. These struggles create complex needs that can be difficult to navigate, especially when they’re tied to PTSD.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Armed Forces Benefit Association (AFBA), remains a significant concern among military personnel. After all, over 23% of military service members are diagnosed with PTSD, compared to just 6% of US adults in general. And among certain veteran groups, PTSD is even more prevalent:
- Up to 29% among veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
- About 30% of Vietnam War veterans
- 9% more likely among female veterans than male veterans
Struggling with PTSD means having symptoms like severe anxiety, flashbacks, uncontrollable thoughts tied to the traumatic event, and heightened reactivity to various stimuli. Yet due to its complexity, PTSD may manifest differently from one individual to another.
From PTSD to Post-Traumatic Stress Growth
In time, PTSD can lead to a host of long-term consequences. If you’re diagnosed and don’t seek holistic PTSD treatment for your struggles, your PTSD may lead you to eventually experience:
- Alcohol or drug addiction
- A constant state of hyperawareness or fight-or-flight
- The inability to relax or engage fully in life
- Difficulty trusting others
- Feeling numb or distant around people
- Regular irritability
- Difficulty concentrating
- Employment challenges
- The inability to have close, meaningful relationships
- Reduced positive engagement with your children
SOURCE: Indiana University
However, as mentioned earlier, your trauma (and even a PTSD diagnosis) doesn’t mean your lot in life is the list of negative outcomes above. Trauma recovery in veterans is possible, even for you. Your struggles can set the stage for positive change in the form of post-traumatic growth. No matter how hard it’s been up to this point, there is opportunity to turn things around.
The term “post-traumatic growth” was originally coined by Richard Tedeschi, PhD and Lawrence Calhoun, PhD in the 1990s to address an interesting phenomenon: the human experience of positive change that occurs due to struggling with highly challenging life crises.
Studies have shown, reports Scientific American, that many who experience trauma not only show incredible resilience. They actually thrive in the aftermath and report growth due to the experience. Reported areas of post-traumatic stress growth due to adversity often include:
- Greater appreciation of life
- Increased compassion and altruism
- Greater appreciation and strengthening of close relationships
- Greater awareness and utilization of personal strengths
- Creative growth
- Enhanced spiritual development
- The identification of new possibilities or purpose in life
With that said, post-traumatic stress growth is not the same as resilience. According to Kanako Taku, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Oakland University, “Resiliency is the personal attribute or ability to bounce back,” as told to the APA.
On the other hand, post-traumatic stress growth occurs when someone who struggles with resilience experiences trauma that challenges their beliefs, endures psychological struggle (such as PTSD), and ultimately finds personal growth. Taku refers to it as a process that “takes a lot of time, energy, and struggle.”
The Inner Workings of Post-Traumatic Stress Growth
Post-traumatic stress growth is an outcome of healing after trauma, and it can come unexpectedly, Scientific American goes on to say. That’s because those who experience it are surprised when it happens as a result of trying to make sense of the trauma that transpired. A traumatic event can rock you to the core and force you to rethink the longstanding beliefs you’ve held. This powerful experience can change your view of yourself, others, your values, and the world around you, leading to growth.
With that said, it’s estimated that about one-half to two-thirds of people who encounter trauma will experience post-traumatic stress growth, according to the APA. But what makes you more susceptible to attaining post-traumatic growth in the face of future trauma?
According to the APA, there are two primary factors: extraversion and openness to experiences. People who are more open-minded are more likely to reconsider their belief systems after trauma happens, setting the stage for growth. Extroverted people are also more prone to take active steps toward healing after trauma and pursue connections with others.
The Catalyst: Trauma-Informed Care
As a veteran, what if you’re reading this with your trauma struggles already in place? Perhaps you’ve experienced anything but positive growth as a result of trauma. It’s important to know that a traumatic event doesn’t always lead to post-traumatic stress growth, and the growth won’t happen overnight, shares the American Cancer Society. In fact, your brain still may be in “survival mode” due to your trauma.
Even so, it’s important that you do take steps to finally process and heal your trauma. And the best way to do so is also the catalyst that helps many veterans achieve post-traumatic growth. You need to seek trauma-informed care at a professional treatment center.
According to the University at Buffalo, trauma-informed care understands and considers the pervasive nature of trauma. Instead of engaging in practices that may inadvertently retraumatize you, a trauma-informed treatment facility promotes an environment of healing and recovery. Trauma-informed care helps you directly address your trauma at the source so that you can finally overcome it in a healthy way. This leads to post-traumatic growth, as well as mental health recovery in veterans like you.
Our Defining Wellness Veterans Program: Healing After Trauma
If you’ve experienced trauma in your past, know that it can lead to positive self-transformation and post-traumatic growth with the right professional help. Our veterans program at Defining Wellness Centers in Mississippi, called Rally Point, is a nationwide leader in empowering veterans and active duty service members to rebuild their lives with purpose, resilience, and self-understanding.
Through trauma-informed care and evidence-based recovery practices, we can help you achieve holistic and lasting healing from your trauma, as well as any co-occurring disorders like addiction or PTSD. If you’re ready to transform your trauma into strength, call our team today
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the trauma I’m experiencing mean I have PTSD?
Just because you’re feeling the effects of trauma doesn’t necessarily mean you also have PTSD. The majority of people who experience trauma will not get PTSD, according to NAMI. You may have PTSD-related symptoms the first few weeks after your trauma (flashbacks, nightmares, etc.), but they will often gradually improve. If your symptoms don’t improve and continue on intensely for more than a month, even interfering with your daily life, it’s best to consult with a mental health professional about the possibility of PTSD.
How are trauma and addiction connected?
Substance abuse and addiction are often rooted in unresolved past trauma. The lingering effects of your trauma may compel you to self-medicate as a way to cope. Drugs or alcohol can become the preferred coping mechanisms for some. Because these only provide temporary relief, you end up taking them again and again, leading to substance dependence and addiction. And your past trauma still remains untreated in the process.