Footprints on the soul : journeys from trauma to resilience / by M. Rose Jonas.

Many of us crumble when trauma smashes our carefully cultivated shores. Some don't. How do people recover from trauma? How does it change them? What meaning do they give it? What is resilience? How can it become the ending point of a traumatic journey? This study looked across the literatures of trauma, coping, and resilience, which suggested the model of a process: (1) A time in the trauma when we are acted on, when we are adjusting to what is happening. (2) While in the trauma, we begin to cope, sometimes only in intrapsychic ways since personal choice may still be limited. (3) In our coping during and after the trauma, we begin to act on behalf of the self. (4) As we move away from the trauma, we work to integrate the experience. (5) Then we are engaged in the work of recovery, after which (6) We do the meaning-making which gives the trauma its place in our lives. This was a phenomenological study of nine participants who had experienced such traumas as life in a concentration camp, disability, breast cancer, massive head injury, a life of violence and abuse, and loss of a child. The themes of resilience which emerged from individual interviews included the role of supportive others, empathy, care of self, faith, action orientation, moving on, positive outlook, and persistence. The structure of resilience has a foundation, which consists of faith, self-respect, striving, supportive others, coping, empathy, self-reliance, and moving on. This study also discusses the paradox of resilience, participants as storytellers, turning points, the pedagogy of trauma, how meaning-making is lived rather than "told," and the footprints trauma leaves on the soul.