The Human Capacity for Growth Through Adversity.

Comments on George Bonanno's article entitled Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? (see record 2004-10043-003). The authors are encouraged by Bonanno's recognition of the human potential for resilience following adversity and his call for psychologists to pay greater attention to this capacity rather than simply focus on psychopathology. This approach parallels recent trends within psychology toward a more "positive psychology," as championed by former American Psychological Association President Martin Seligman. However, it fails to recognize research trends within the traumatic stress literature, which have increasingly pointed toward the capacity not just for resilience but also for people to use aversive events as a springboard for further growth and development. In this comment, the authors argue that the real paradigm shift needed in dealing with loss and trauma is not simply to include resilience (i.e., the absence of psychopathology). Rather, psychologists should seek to develop an understanding of reactions to adversity that explains the full range of reactions, from psychopathology, through resilience, to adversarial growth. Here they review the main points made by Bonanno (2004) within the context of the adversarial growth literature before presenting a brief overview of a new theory of adversarial growth that addresses these salient considerations, explaining the three possible outcomes of psychopathology, resilience, and adversarial growth following loss and trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)