Posttraumatic Growth: A Narrative Review
Abstract
Tiffany Field
The prevalence of posttraumatic growth has significantly varied from 2% to 82% in this current literature. Although posttraumatic growth is a positive experience, the current literature on posttraumatic growth only addresses two positive effects including resilience and future time orientation. Correlates of posttraumatic growth include posttraumatic stress, rumination, optimism, higher education, cognitive processing, and social support. Positive predictors of posttraumatic growth include positive childhood experiences, empathy, resilience, and “meaning-making”. Negative predictors include abuse and neglect, posttraumatic stress, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, recent suicide loss, being a veteran, being in intensive care and experiencing severe trauma. The only mechanism study that appeared in this literature suggested increased cerebellar volume as a potential underlying biological mechanism for posttraumatic growth. Cognitive behavioral therapy was the only intervention included in this current literature. Methodological limitations include the self-report, cross-sectional design of the studies, the frequent sampling of adults with clinical conditions and the multiple correlates of posttraumatic growth that were not evaluated for their relative significance by regression analyses or structural equation modeling.