Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is the positive psychological change experienced after a traumatic event. As a byproduct of cognitive processes, it reappraises one’s perspective disrupted by the traumatic event. Facilitators of this cognitive process work in combination with the social context of those individuals. This should also be true of military settings. A thorough review of 17 literatures on the facilitators of PTG in the military setting resulted in five facilitating categories of PTG: demographic attribution, distress/symptoms, positive context, internal characteristics, and negative context. In promoting military PTG, it may be effective to have an environment that encourages spontaneous self-disclosure by understanding the values that the military personnel cherish and to increase resources for finding meaning in adversity.
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