Trauma and assumptive worldview: beliefs about the world, post-traumatic stress and growth in trauma survivors

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore the role of the individuals’ Assumptive Worldviews in determining the outcomes of experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) and/or PostTraumatic Growth (PTG) in the aftermath of trauma. The basic study model proposed that the Assumptive Worldview of an individual will play a mediating role between experiencing a traumatic incidence and developing PTS and/or PTG outcomes. Furthermore, exposure to a traumatic incidence was said to produce some change/ difference in the Assumptive Worldview of exposed individuals as compared to those not exposed; with positive changes to be associated with decreased PTS symptoms and increased PTG, while negative changes to be associated with increase in PTS symptoms and decrease in PTG. A sample of University students (n=427) from all over Pakistan consented to participate in the online survey. Results indicated non-significant associations between traumatic exposure and the eight Assumptive Worldviews, as well as no significant difference in the Assumptive Worldviews between groups with (n=361) and without trauma exposure (n=66); due to which the mediation model could not be supported. Furthermore, the present study found a significant positive correlation between PTS and PTG [r (359) =.5, p =.01]. It is discussed that traumatic events may be assimilated into the existing belief systems with simultaneous compartmentalization of the traumatic experience. Thus, possibly resulting in illusory growth characterized by palliation and avoidance of integrating the traumatic hurt into the wider belief system. Also, since our belief systems or Assumptive Worldviews may largely be determined by cultural heuristics or socially scripted narratives, it may be possible that the self-reported assumptions are conveyed from the compartmentalized cognitive part that are being displayed as the illusory self-denying PTG. On the other hand, the high PTS symptoms be projecting from the compartmentalized emotional part projecting the unprocessed grief and loss of the traumatic experience.