Happiness Hypothesis Part 8 of 10: The Adversity Hypothesis

May 19, 2010 by dr. lam

197_spirituality If you could have special glasses to see what adversity and calamity would befall your children then had a special eraser to erase all of those glitches would you do it? Of course, right? But is that the right thing to do? Remember in a previous blog we have discussed that we are a product of our trials and tribulations. Without them, we are condemned to live a bland existence.

We are all familiar with the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder but have we heard of post-traumatic growth? When someone is stricken with the diagnosis of cancer, does that not reprioritize everything in his or her life? What happens when adversity strikes us? How do we emerge from it?

For me, Nietzsche’s idea that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger is a propos. The adversity that I have overcome in my life has definitely transformed my life in special ways that I am indebted to have experienced. We should never wish upon ourselves adversity but we can grow from them.

A study had two groups of people who faced devastating tragedies, e.g., rape, death of a dear family member, etc., and had one group write about their terrible situation for 4 days almost incessantly and constantly while the second group did not. Months to years later the scientists followed the two groups and found that not only the psychological welfare of the first group was emboldened but so was their physical health. It seemed almost that the type of tragedy did not influence the outcome but how the individual was able to express that tragedy in a cathartic way did.

As we talked about in the last couple of blogs, we as humans are “ultrasocial” beings far greater than in the animal world. We need other humans with us to give our life meaning and substance. What we can do to get over our tragedy is to feel connected with others by sharing that experience out loud and thereby giving us a channel of freedom.

A study found that the right time for the first major adversity to strike was somewhere in the late teens to early/mid twenties. When people encountered their first major life adversity after the age of 30, they were found to be less resilient and could not grow as much from that experience.

In short, the right timing (late teens to early twenties), the right amount (not enough to cause PTSD), and to the right person (someone who has a social network around him/her) can lead to the most fruitful “post-traumatic growth” that can lead to being empathic with others who suffer and to being hopefully a better person who can use that experience to help others grow in a similar way.

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