Customer Reviews

What Doesn't Kill Us: The New Psychology of Posttraumatic Growth

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Stephen Joseph's new book "What doesn't kill us: The new psychology of post traumatic growth" is excellent. What this book does is take the concept of trauma, often associated with the medical style mental illness of PTSD, and shows us that there is far more to understanding people's responses than we routinely acknowledge. The idea that a process of growth can be activated by the distress following a trauma is simply brilliant. The case studies in the book have such a `ring of truth' that, at times, made me feel as though I was reading about myself.
One thing I loved about this book was the way in which the case studies really bring to life how, even after significant trauma, there can be hope and optimism for the future. More than this, I was left feeling as though what the author was saying was that the changes that can follow as a result of struggling with the response to trauma may lead to even greater levels of functioning in the person. The constant recognition of the distress that people experience with the hope for a fuller life afterwards is inspiring. This places Joseph's book in the `to be taken seriously' end of the positive psychology spectrum; he shows us that human suffering is often a part of life that we will have to encounter yet there can be benefits at the end of a long struggle. The realism and humanity of the accounts are also deeply respectful of people's traumatic experiences.
This book would be a really excellent companion for anyone who has experienced a traumatic event and/or finds themselves struggling to make sense of it, for anyone supporting a family member who has been traumatised or those working with traumatised people professionally. The book shows us that the problem with the current mental health system and zeitgeist of psychological distress as mental illness is both outdated and neglectful of the potential we have as human beings to grow following traumatic events. This is the best popular psychology book I've read for years! Highly recommend.

'What doesn't kill us' is an informative, engaging and hugely accessible account of trauma, PTSD and posttraumatic growth, the book covers a huge amount of ground in a sensitive and humane way, encompassing contemporary research, philosophy, clinical examples and a postscript offering signposts to facilitating posttraumatic growth.

Stephen Joseph offers an account of posttraumatic growth that emphasises the potential for greater depth and meaning of life following adversity without implying that this 'should' be the case. It opens up the dialogue about how we create meanings and normalises the reactions to adverse events as an alternative to patholgising distress.
For me, the book is grounded in the uniqueness of individual experiencing whilst holding in mind and asking questions of the wider picture of the social and cultural implications of fostering resilience and growth.

What really struck me about the book was the offering of a balanced viewpoint,neither focussing heavily on poitives or negatives but consistently recognising that both exist simultaneously and indeed that posttraumatic stress can be the engine for posttraumatic growth.
This book is a must read, not only for those in the 'helping professions' but for anyone who has experienced adversity- highly recommended.

Stephen Joseph has presented research evidence that more people exposed to traumatic events had POSITIVE responses than developed PTSD.

In his own study of a tour ship disaster 43 percent had reported their lives changed for the better (but 46 percent reported their lives change for the worse). Also, 73 percent were drinking more, 44 percent were smoking more, 40 percent were taking sleeping pills, 28 percent were taking antidepressants and 21 percent were taking tranquilizers (page 9). I do not call this a positive outcome; this data represents a dramatic increase in polysubstance abuse for these victims.

He also cites a study of the general population after 911 with 58 percent reporting one or more positive outcome(s) from the events of 911 (page 75). Watching TV does not cause PTSD ! ! !

He presents his own theory, THE BROKEN VASE THEORY and cites most modern psychologists, Lance Armstrong, The Wizard of Oz and other popular figures to validate his theory.

He then describes an 8 - 12 session model of treatment, Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) using reframing, EMDR, desensitization and other cognitive interventions but presents to outcome data for this treatment.

Progress in treatment is measured by the Psychological Well-Being Post-Traumatic Changes Questionnaire (PWB-PTCQ) without any evidence of validity for the instrument.

There was no attempt to explain WHY one group has a positive outcome and one group has a negative outcome.

He cites one interview by him of a soldier who had served in the Falklands War, otherwise his remark are from civilian trauma such as auto accidents, rape and breast cancer victims.

There is no data to prove/validate his theory.

It is nice to know there are some positive outcomes from trauma.

Guy C. Lamunyon MSN, RN
US Army Psych Mental Health Nurse - Retired
Glamunyon@aol.com

An excellent read! i found this book useful, informative and very encouraging. An important subject which is very sensitively examined by joseph and offers hope for a wide range of situations related to trauma. It also demystifies a lot of psycholoigcal info and enjoyable to read. I couldn't put it down!

I found this book enlightening. Answering questions I didn't know I had. PTSD is something we all have to deal with on many different levels.