Bringing Back the Body into Positive Psychology: The Theory of <i>Corporeal</i> <i>Posttraumatic</i> <i>Growth</i> <i>in</i> <i>Breast</i> <i>Cancer</i> <i>Survivorship</i> — Oak Academic Publishing
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Bringing Back the Body into Positive Psychology: The Theory of <i>Corporeal</i> <i>Posttraumatic</i> <i>Growth</i> <i>in</i> <i>Breast</i> <i>Cancer</i> <i>Survivorship</i>
Department of Psychology, Univeristy of East London, London, UK
1 Department of Psychology, Univeristy of East London, London, UK
Objective: Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is the phenomenon of surpassing levels of functioning than which existed before a traumatic event occurred. The objective of this study was to assess how the body may have had an influence on the facilitation, and as an outcome, of PTG. Methods: 83 female breast cancer survivors, 5 years post cancer diagnosis, were interviewed on their long-term experience of physical ac tivity engagement. Inductive thematic analysis was used in order to ascertain whether or not there were any serendipitous expressions of posttraumatic growth. Results: 24% (n = 20) of the study mentioned ex periencing some form of PTG, including both generic and corporeal specific domains. Of those that re ported PTG, 70% were from the original physical activity intervention group indicating potential links between activity participation during cancer treatment and long term PTG. Discussion: The results sup port the theoretical viewpoint that recovery from physical illness may have a unique PTG journey in comparison to more cognitive/external sources of trauma. Conclusions: This is the first study to qualita tively collect longitudinal data from a large and unique sample on the experience of PTG following breast cancer survivorship. Furthermore, the author has coined this new addition of a more embodied experience of PTG, the theory of ‘ Corporeal Posttraumatic Growth ’ and presents suggestions for future research.
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