What Doesn't Kill Us

The new psychology of posttraumatic growth

by Stephen Joseph, Ph.D.

The Metaphor of the Shattered Vase

Posttraumatic growth involves rebuilding of the shattered assumptive world. This can be illustrated through the metaphor of the shattered vase. Read More

Cognitive Vaccine for Trauma

Could we develop a cognitive vaccine for trauma? And could it come in the form of a classic video game? Read More

Posttraumatic Growth and Comprehensive Soldier Fitness

The topic of posttraumatic growth now receives a lot of attention. Most recently an article in The New York Times discussed its application to the military as part of the controversial Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program (CSF). Read More

Eternal Sunshine of Propranolol

Would you want a drug that would wipe out your trauma memories? Like in the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in which Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey play a couple whose memories are continually erased. Read More

Trauma's Rocky Road to Recovery

Is it true that for psychotherapy to work you have to get worse before you get better? Or is this nothing more than dangerous and misguided thinking? Read More

Lessons from Disaster At Sea

Since the capsize of the Costa Concordia last week and the news that up to 32 people have lost their lives some commentators have mentioned similarities with the Titanic. To understand the situation it is useful to look for points of similarity to previous incidents. Read More

What Is Trauma?

My dictionary defines trauma as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Defined like that the events which can be considered traumatic are wide ranging indeed - from what might be considered the stuff of ordinary life such as divorce, illness, accidents and bereavement to extreme experiences of war, torture, rape and genocide. Read More

Positive and Negative Changes after Trauma

Trauma can shatter peoples' world assumptions. In the process of rebuilding an assumptive world people often report ways in which they change positively. It is becoming increasingly important to integrate this idea into trauma work. Read More

Trial of the Will

In the latest issue of Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens, writes: "...one thing that grave illness does is to make you examine familiar principles and seemingly reliable sayings. And there's one that I find I am not saying with quite the same conviction I once used to: in particular, I have slightly stopped issuing the announcement that "whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger"". Read More

Guilt May Be a Top Factor in PTSD

Study suggests feelings of guilt may be a top factor in PTSD was the title of a recent blog by Gregg Zoroya of USA Today. Read More

Is Shell Shock the Same as PTSD?

Shell shock is a term originally coined in 1915 by Charles Myers to describe soldiers who were involuntarily shivering, crying, fearful, and had constant intrusions of memory. It is not a term used in psychiatric practice today but remains in everyday use.

Last week I was interviewed by Alice Karekezi for Salon.Com. She asked me if I thought PTSD was over diagnosed.

There are actually two questions rolled up into this I think. The first is whether people are being inappropriately diagnosed with PTSD as defined by DSM. The second is whether the concept of PTSD has been over applied.

For decades it has been assumed within mainstream psychiatry that psychosis has a genetic basis and that the social environment has little influence.

But this conventional wisdom is now being challenged.

On Friday I attended the Soteria Network Conference 2011—Alternatives Within and Beyond Psychiatry. Read More

Therapy for posttraumatic growth: Car Mechanics and Gardeners

What sort of therapy facilitates posttraumatic growth?

The best starting point is to examine the deep seated philosophical assumptions of therapy. Read More

Changing How We Think About Psychological Trauma

The possibility of posttraumatic growth has become one of the most exciting topics in modern clinical psychology and psychotherapy Read More

Stephen Joseph, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology, health, and social care at the University of Nottingham, UK, and author of What Doesn't Kill Us.

more...