The Hidden Benefits of Traumatic Growth

Be your own hero

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If you’re feeling depressed and anxious because of the current pandemic or threats like climate change, you’re not alone. In a study released in August 2020, the Centers for Disease Control report that the pandemic has had adverse impacts on our mental health, increasing suicidal ideation and substance use (Czeisler et al, 2020). Often such feelings and actions result from social isolation, changes in roles, responsibilities, personal circumstances, or health, or loss of loved ones.

Unexpected change can be traumatic, but it doesn’t have to be the ending.

Post-traumatic growth (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996) is a phenomenon where individuals may experience positive outcomes from trauma. However, the outcomes are based on self-reports, which can be faulty; Parks & Sinnott (2018) only noted spiritual benefits from post-traumatic growth. However, the concept may have heuristic value in the way we frame challenges by cultivating learning and growth from even the most dire of hardships. Challenging circumstances can be reframed as opportunities for self-transcendence and greater resilience.

A useful frame to envision and embrace challenge (Pieracci, 1990; Williams, 2019) is the concept of the Hero’s Journey, proposed by comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell in his book Hero With A Thousand Faces. According to Campbell, this frame is pervasive across time and culture and helps humanity to access the rapture of being alive by connecting with our deepest selves. Beloved epic tales like the Wizard of Oz describe the journey of the heroine leaving home to embark on an adventure greater than themselves, undergoing tests, trials, and adversity. The heroine eventually returns home bearing the journey’s gift, which Campbell describes as the lost wisdom of her generation.

Initially, the heroine may sense that the challenge is external but eventually understands that she must transform from the inside to rise to meet the challenge. Dorothy famously discovers that she carries the solution to her quest and returns home with insight and wisdom that the elders in her family had (re)learned long ago.

By viewing hardship as part of the inevitable internal journey of growth and discovery, we can more efficiently and effectively move through roadblocks and setbacks in our lives.

Campbell also helps us to understand that the Hero’s Journey represents the difficult growth process that we all share (Robertson and Lawrence, 2015). Journey elements are normal, not pathological, and typically include obstacles (Tests), despair or failure (Innermost Cave), finding help (Mentors and Allies), and difficult others (Enemies). Campbell brilliantly reframes difficult others by saying, “Love thine enemies because they are the instruments of your destiny.”

Though the journey is hard, the rewards (Reward) for inner transformation are potentially great. After transforming in response to challenge, the heroine can experience many surprising opportunities and a sense of soaring on the wings of her destiny.

The Hero’s Journey for Healing

The counseling literature provides several examples of the use of Campbell’s construct for healing. Robertson & Lawrence (2015) frames struggle in an empowering manner to help us find authenticity and resilience in the face of challenge.

Step 1: Acknowledge the courage needed to answer the Call.

Individuals who feel beckoned by the Call may feel torn between playing it safe, where one may feel increasingly small and stuck, or making themselves feel vulnerable by risking change and failure. Though change is more likely pursued when the consequences of stasis exceed the risk of change, an intention to embrace the journey with courage can initiate the journey.

Step 2: Be present and reframe challenges

Challenges (Tests, Enemies, Innermost Cave) are temporary and an inevitable part of both life and the Hero’s Journey. Being present reminds us that, while real loss and harm may exist in the past or future, in the current moment we are OK. By being mindful we can acknowledge feelings of pain, grief, and misery, and release them.

In the present moment, we also have the opportunity to reframe our losses and setbacks as heroic opportunities to become bigger, better versions of ourselves. Our smaller self is unsure if we can surmount the challenge, but a larger, more spacious version can.

Step 3: Revisit past successes

Though the current challenges may feel insurmountable, we all have enjoyed success in response to past struggles. Recall these events and what factors supported your success. Which strategies, in original or evolved form, can be helpful now? In what ways did these past experiences resemble Hero’s Journeys too?

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Step 4: Ask for and seek help

The Hero’s Journey speaks to the inner longing in all of us that yearns to discover and grow into our true self, which contributes to the “rapture of being alive.” We all journey, and are constantly being beckoned to rise to the occasion.

There is inspiration and support for those who heed the Call. Counseling, hearing stories of the struggles of others, mentors, teachers, and healers (Allies, Mentors) can support us as we realize our larger, heroic selves. Often, the ability to be vulnerable and fostering a greater sense of connection to others are skills acquired by the hero (Williams, 2019).

In conclusion, the hardships you are experiencing can be viewed as your Call to Adventure. You’re the heroine in your own story, which is revealed to you one step at a time. This mission, if you choose to accept it, offers growth, resilience, insight, and beauty on the other side.