2-Source Argument (Posttraumatic Stress)

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Abstract This paper explores two published articles that report results from research conducted on individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress. The researchers looked for positive changes in outlook and measured the individual’s posttraumatic growth. Both articles define posttraumatic growth as “improved relationships with others, openness to new possibilities, greater appreciation of life, enhanced personal strength, and spiritual development.” This paper examines the research presented by both articles and compares their main arguments to society today. Positive Changes in Character Following Posttraumatic Stress The field of trauma is increasingly focusing its attention on positive outcomes arising from adversity. While the negative consequences of trauma are well-documented, a recent emerging literature points to the potential for trauma to be an experience that is, for some individuals, deeply transformative in ways that are reported as positive and valued. Two articles that will be discussed are Strengths of Character and Posttraumatic Growth by Peterson, Park, Pole, D’Andrea, and Seligman and Positive Changes in Outlook Following Trauma and Their Relationship to Subsequent Posttraumatic Stress, Depression, and Anxiety by Linley, Joseph, and Goodfellow. These articles evaluate longitudinal studies that observe the character changes in individuals that experience traumatic events. It is not that such individuals have somehow escaped the seriously negative impact of the losses, but rather that, in coping with the losses and rebuilding their lives, some individuals may unexpectedly arrive at a new level of meaning, a changed philosophical stance that represents a renewed and valued purpose, a redefined sense of self, and a changed relationship to the world. Given all that may be lost following a trauma, it is understandable that survivors may want

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