Graduation Year
2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor in Psychology (Psy. D.)
Abstract
With the rise of positive psychology, clinical psychologists and other helping-professionals have rightly begun to emphasize the importance of psychological factors that predict human flourishing rather than studying risk factors and psychopathology alone. This new emphasis has largely driven research into constructs such as psychological resilience and posttraumatic growth (PTG); both manifestations of the human ability to survive or grow following experiences with extreme adversity that are often traumatic. The current standards of care for those who have experienced a trauma include asking these individuals to voluntarily discuss and confront their traumatic experiences; a task made challenging by nature of the difficulty of these conversations as well as prevailing stigma. The program presented herein proposes that conversations surrounding hero-models and comparisons such as those found in popular culture super-hero narratives can be used to make trauma processing accessible as well as to foster and/or highlight psychological resilience and PTG in psychotherapy.
Faculty Mentor
Melinda Moore, Ph.D.
Department Affiliation
Psychology
Committee Member
Jerry Palmer, Ph.D.
Department Affiliation
Psychology
Committee Member
Dustin Wygant, Ph.D.
Department Affiliation
Psychology
Copyright
2022 Reagan L. Overby
Recommended Citation
Overby, Reagan, "Growing with Our Heroes: Utilizing Hero Narratives in Therapy to Foster Psychological Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth" (2023). Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects. 34.
https://encompass.eku.edu/psych_doctorals/34
