The Handbook of Posttraumatic Growth: Research and Practice

by Lawrence G. Calhoun (editor), Richard G. Tedeschi (Editor)

Posttraumatic growth is an area in which investigations are now being undertaken in many different parts of the world. The view that individuals can be changed--sometimes in radically good ways--by their struggle with trauma is ancient and widespread. However, the systematic focus by scholars and clinicians on the possibilities for growth from the struggle with crisis is relatively recent. There are now a growing number of studies and scholarly papers on the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of posttraumatic growth, and there are also theoretical models that can help guide the research further. It is clear, however, that this phenomenon is not yet well understood.

The Handbook of Posttraumatic Research and Practice provides both clinicians and researchers with a comprehensive and up-to-date view of what has been done so far. In addition, it uses the foundations of what has been done to provide suggestions for the next useful steps to take in understanding posttraumatic growth. The book offers contributions of important and influential scholars representing a wide array of perspectives of posttraumatic growth. This volume serves as an impetus for additional work, both in the academic aspects and in the possibilities for clinical applications of posttraumatic growth.

This Handbook will appeal to students, practitioners, and researchers working in a broad array of disciplines and human services.

400 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2006

About the author

Lawrence G. Calhoun is Professor of Psychology at UNC Charlotte, in the United States, and he is a Licensed Psychologist. Although his parents were North American, he was born and raised in Brazil. He is co-author/co-editor of several books and of more than 90 articles published in professional journals. He teaches undergraduate and graduate students and is a recipient of the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence and of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. His current scholarly activities are focused on the responses of persons encountering major life crises, particularly the phenomenon of posttraumatic growth. With his colleague Richard Tedeschi he has been studying this phenomenon since the early 1980’s; they introduced the term, posttraumatic growth, in 1995 and published the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory in 1996. He has welcomed the recent renewed interest in the positive elements of psychology.