Exploring thriving in the context of clinical trauma theory: constructivist self development theory - Thriving: Broadening the Paradigm Beyond Illness to Health

Journal of Social Issues, Summer, 1998 by Karen W. Saakvitne, Howard Tennen, Glenn Affleck

The Complexity of Responses to Trauma

It is widely accepted that trauma is transformative and that in the aftermath of a traumatic event nothing is again the same. We are most familiar with negative aspects of this change: grief and traumatic loss, emotional fragmentation, and psychic devastation. Yet personal narratives, clinical lore, and a growing research base (Grossman & Moore, 1995; Harvey, 1996; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1995; Tedeschi, Park, & Calhoun, 1998; Wolin & Wolin, 1993) suggest that trauma also leads to other transformations, including the reconstruction of meaning; the renewal of faith, trust, hope, and connection; and the redefinition of self, self-in-relation, and sense of community. After trauma comes adaptation. Those who physically survive trauma begin to recover even as its full horror is still registering. In our biologically mandated struggle to survive, we adapt to seemingly impossible circumstances. Adaptation stems from our attempts to survive and to heal in the midst of our suffering. These adaptations frequently carry both benefits and costs to the individual and to society.

Our conceptual models must be able to incorporate the dialectics of posttraumatic experience and accept apparent opposites that are simultaneously true. Trauma is about devastation and resilience. The most damaged survivor may demonstrate strength that surpasses our expectations. For example, the client who has survived long-term sadistic abuse in childhood by developing dissociated identifies manifests severe psychopathology and emotional vulnerability. At the same time her or his adaptive efforts (i.e., symptoms) reflect considerable resourcefulness and self-protectiveness. It could be argued that such an individual is in some ways more resilient than others. If we measure posttraumatic growth by symptom checklists, or if we assume growth and impairment are opposites, we overlook the many individuals with severe symptoms who also have enormous strengths and who demonstrate the ability to advocate for and nurture others through their writing (DeSalvo, 1989) or through their efforts in the helping professions.

Trauma Theory

Increasingly, there has emerged the need for a theory of self that explicitly addresses the impact of trauma on self-development. An individual's response to trauma is contextualized by the dynamics of perception, cognition, and affective processing, which include the need to create meaning and construct personal narratives (Coles, 1986, 1990; Frankl, 1959; van der Kolk, 1986; van der Kolk & MacFarlane, 1996). Constructivist Self Development Theory (CSDT; McCann & Pearlman, 1990; Pearlman & Saakvitne, 1995) is an integrative personality theory that describes the impact of a traumatic event (or traumatic context) on the development of self. By integrating constructs from psychoanalytic and social learning theories, CSDT describes personality development as the interaction between core self-capacities (related to early relationships, secure attachments, and ego resources) and constructed beliefs and schemas (related to cumulative experiences and the attribution of meaning to those experiences) that shape perception and experience. Thus it is a constructivist theory of personalty development. Because it highlights those aspects of development most likely to be affected by traumatic events, it is also a clinical trauma theory.