Post Traumatic Growth (PTG): A Positive Approach to Trauma Healing
By: Sasikumar Manickam
Tags: PTSD

Research and Designing in positive psychology using Artificial Intelligence

“People develop new understandings of themselves, the world they live in, how to relate to other people, the kind of future they might have, and a better understanding of how to live life,” Tedeschi wrote.

When I was doing Yoga classes, my yoga guru said, How he was enlightened. It is an incredible story listen to. He was roaming in a forest with no expectations, stayed in a random place and walked again with no food or water for 12 days. When he was sitting on to of rock for a few days with closing eyes, he said that he was suddenly enlightened. He said that he did not aware that he was on the top of the rock sitting a few days. After this happened, He started seeing things differently. He appeared calm, seeing things clearly, no complex thoughts, felt younger, smiling, intelligent, and optimistic. What caused this kind of enormous change? I certainly believe he went through some self Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD need not be a terrifying event. Instead, it can be a turned to be a real event; ones that change us, forge our character and make us stronger.

Post-Traumatic Growth Definition

Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is a concept developed by psychologists Richard Tedeschi, Ph.D., and Lawrence Calhoun, Ph.D., in the mid-’90s. It refers to the positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances and crises. It holds that people who endure mental struggle following adversity can often see positive growth. This paper intends to set the baselines to analyze what sequences of emotions and levels of intensity can be turned in to a positive PTG and which can be converted to be negative PTSD.

Basic research arguments

Is it possible to prepare people for PTG, to pave the way should tragedy or trauma strike? Yes, says Tedeschi, noting that psychologists can “allow people to understand that this may be a possibility for themselves” and is a “fairly normal process” if and when trauma occurs. Tedeschi is among the psychologists studying the Boulder Crest program’s efficacy as part of a research grant funded by the Marcus Foundation. He hopes that as vets go through the process at Boulder Crest, they “develop new principles for living that involve altruistic behavior, having a mission in life and purpose that goes beyond oneself, so that trauma is transformed into something useful not only for oneself but for others.” Tedeschi is among the psychologists studying the Boulder Crest program’s efficacy as part of a research grant funded by the Marcus Foundation. He hopes that as vets go through the process at Boulder Crest, they “develop new principles for living that involve altruistic behavior, having a mission in life and purpose that goes beyond oneself, so that trauma is transformed into something useful not only for oneself but for others.”

Post-traumatic Growth (PTG) Problem Statement

Tremendous growth and development have been observed after unimaginable suffering, trauma, and pain. There are more than 300 studies have explored the phenomenon variously referred to as post-traumatic growth (PTG; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996), stress-related growth (Park, Cohen, & Murch, 1996), and benefit finding (Tennen & Affleck, 2002). However, a self-inflicting or volunteering oneself for suffering is certainly not a foolproof recipe for development, and it is possible to channel the pain from a traumatic event into positive, productive, and meaningful growth. Our intention to develop an AI-assisted design to create PTG in a controlled environment for a short period of time like a conference, undergraduate classroom, training program, etc.

Proposed solution

Several technologies can be used to refine the diagnosis of PTSD in patients using imaging data, computer or smartphone questionnaires, or biometric data (sleep, HRV, skin conductance) using connected objects. Coupling MRI and ML makes it possible to distinguish a patient with PTSD from a patient without PTSD with 92.5% accuracy (Liu et al., 2015). The proposed solution based on PTSD detection and apply the PTG process to improve the candidate’s life. This process has three steps. First, Understand the candidate’s current mood state. It can be Joy, Distress, shame, pride, etc. Second, Create a trauma and measure mood state and intensity. Finally, Apply positive psychology and find mood state and intensity of the mood. Repeat the sequence of these three steps with various candidates and compare the outcome. Compare the results with no sequence applied.

Problem with Proposed solution

It can be dampened with two controversies, including 1) whether PTG constructs genuine positive changes 2) The growth measurement is valid. The challenge with AI-assisted design, a) how to create a traumatic event for a specific person or group of people. b) how much intensity needed and c) how to measure and apply the positive psychology after the traumatic event artificially posted to the subject.

Conclusion

PTG helps candidates finding strength and abilities, improving good relationships and a positive change in priorities and philosophies.