Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Experience of Meaning in Life pp 61–76Cite as

Trauma and Meaning Making: Converging Conceptualizations and Emerging Evidence

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

Meaning is central in human life, particularly when individuals confront highly stressful and traumatic life experiences. This chapter provides an overview of current conceptual and empirical work on meaning in the context of trauma and reviews evidence regarding seven meaning-related propositions: (1) People possess orienting systems (global meaning) that provide them with cognitive tools to interpret their experiences and motivate their functioning in the world. (2) People appraise the situations that they encounter, assigning a meaning to them. (3) The extent to which that appraised meaning is discrepant with their global meaning determines the extent to which they experience distress. (4) The distress caused by discrepancy initiates a process of meaning making. (5) There are many ways to make meaning. (6) Through meaning making, individuals reduce the discrepancy between appraised and global meaning and restore a sense of the world as meaningful and their own lives as worthwhile. (7) Meaning making, when successful, leads to better adjustment to the stressful event. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aldwin CM (2007) Stress, coping, and development: an integrative approach. Guilford, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Armour M (2003) Meaning making in the aftermath of homicide. Death Stud 27:519–540

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Austin JT, Vancouver JB (1996) Goal constructs in psychology: structure, process, and content. Psychol Bull 120:338–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boehmer S, Luszczynska A, Schwarzer R (2007) Coping and quality of life after tumor surgery: personal and social resources promote different domains of quality of life. Anxiety Stress Coping 20:61–75

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boersma SN, Maes S, van Elderen T (2005) Goal disturbance predicts health-related quality of life and depression 4 months after myocardial infarction. Br J Health Psychol 10:615–630

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonanno GA, Kaltman S (1999) Toward an integrative perspective on bereavement. Psychol Bull 125:760–776

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonanno GA, Wortman CB, Nesse RM (2004) Prospective patterns of resilience and maladjustment during widowhood. Psychol Aging 19:260–271

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bower JE, Kemeny ME, Taylor SE, Fahey JL (1998) Cognitive processing, discovery of meaning, CD4 decline, and AIDS-related mortality among bereaved HIV-seropositive men. J Consult Clin Psychol 66:979–986

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brandtstädter J (2002) Searching for paths to successful development and aging: integrating developmental and action-theoretical perspectives. In: Pulkkinen L, Caspi A (eds) Paths to successful development: personality in the life course. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 380–408

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brandtstädter J (2006) Adaptive resources in later life: tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment. In: Csikszentmihalyi M, Csikszentmihalyi IS (eds) A life worth living: contributions to positive psychology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 143–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulman RJ, Wortman CB (1977) Attributions of blame and coping in the ‘real world’: severe accident victims react to their lot. J Pers Soc Psychol 35:351–363

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buunk AP, Gibbons FX (2007) Social comparison: the end of a theory and the emergence of a field. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 102:3–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun LG, Tedeschi RG (eds) (2006) Handbook of posttraumatic growth: research & practice. Erlbaum, Mahwah

    Google Scholar 

  • Cann A, Calhoun LG, Tedeschi RG, Triplett KN, Vishnevsky T, Lindstrom CM (2011) Assessing posttraumatic cognitive processes: the event related rumination inventory. Anxiety Stress Coping 24:137–156

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carver CS, Scheier MF (1998) On the self-regulation of behavior. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cason DR, Resick PA, Weaver TL (2002) Schematic integration of traumatic events. Clin Psychol Rev 22:131–153

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christiansen CR (2006) Sense-making and entrepreneurial coalition building: a case of competing interests, cultural barriers, and interorganizational relations in a nonprofit health plan. Int J Public Adm 29:501–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collie K, Long BC (2005) Considering “meaning” in the context of breast cancer. J Health Psychol 10:843–853

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coward DD, Kahn DL (2005) Transcending breast cancer: making meaning from diagnosis and treatment. J Holist Nurs 23:264–283

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Creamer M, Burgess P, Pattison P (1992) Reaction to trauma: a cognitive processing model. J Abnorm Psychol 101:452–459

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Currier J, Holland J, Neimeyer R (2006) Sense-making, grief, and the experience of violent loss: toward a mediational model. Death Stud 30:403–428

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Daaleman T, Kaufman JS (2006) Spirituality and depressive symptoms in primary care outpatients. South Med J 99:1340–1344

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dalgleish T (2004) Cognitive approaches to posttraumatic stress disorder: the evolution of multirepresentational theorizing. Psychol Bull 130:228–260

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis CG, Morgan M (2008) Finding meaning, perceiving growth, and acceptance of tinnitus. Rehabil Psychol 53:128–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis CG, Nolen-Hoeksema S, Larson J (1998) Making sense of loss and benefiting from the experience: two construals of meaning. J Pers Soc Psychol 75:561–574

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis C, Wortman CB, Lehman DR, Silver R (2000) Searching for meaning in loss: are clinical assumptions correct? Death Stud 24:497–540

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dittman-Kohli F, Westerhof GJ (1999) The personal meaning system in a life-span perspective. In: Reker GT, Chamberlain K (eds) Exploring existential meaning: optimizing human development across the life span. Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 107–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Dollinger SJ (1986) The need for meaning following disaster: attributions and emotional upset. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 12:300–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmons RA (2003) Personal goals, life meaning, and virtue: wellsprings of a positive life. In: Keyes CLM, Haidt J (eds) Flourishing: positive psychology and the life well-lived. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 105–128

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Everly GSJ, Lating JM (2004) Personality-guided therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Evers AW, Kraaimaat FW, van Lankveld W, Jongen PJ, Jacobs JW, Bijlsma JW (2001) Beyond unfavorable thinking: the illness cognition questionnaire for chronic diseases. J Consult Clin Psychol 69:1026–1036

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fife BL (2005) The role of constructed meaning in adaptation to the onset of life-threatening illness. Soc Sci Med 61:2132–2143

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fillip SH (1999) A three-stage model of coping with loss and trauma. In: Maercker A, Schutzwohl M, Solomon Z (eds) Posttraumatic stress disorder: a lifespan development perspective. Hogrefe & Huber, Seattle, pp 43–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Foa EB, Ehlers A, Clark DM, Tolin DF, Orsillo SM (1999) The Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI): development and validation. Psychol Assess 11:303–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foa EB, Huppert JD, Cahill SP (2006) Emotional processing theory: an update. In: Rothbaum BO (ed) Pathological anxiety: emotional processing in etiology and treatment. Guilford, New York, pp 3–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Folkman S (1997) Positive psychological states and coping with severe stress. Soc Sci Med 45:1207–1221

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Folkman S, Moskowitz JT (2007) Positive affect and meaning-focused coping during significant psychological stress. In: Hewstone M et al (eds) The scope of social psychology: theory and applications. Psychology Press, New York, pp 193–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Frazier P, Tashiro T, Berman M, Steger M, Long J (2004) Correlates of levels and patterns of positive life changes following sexual assault. J Consult Clin Psychol 72:19–30

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gale R (1986) The multicultural city and the politics of religious architecture: urban planning, mosques and meaning-making in Birmingham, UK. Built Environ 30:18–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillies J, Neimeyer RA (2006) Loss, grief, and the search for significance: toward a model of meaning reconstruction in bereavement. J Constr Psychol 19:31–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray MJ, Maguen S, Litz BT (2007) Schema constructs and cognitive models of posttraumatic stress disorder. In: Riso LP et al (eds) Cognitive schemas and core beliefs in psychological problems: a scientist-practitioner guide. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 59–92

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg MA (1995) Cognitive processing of traumas: the role of intrusive thoughts and reappraisals. J Appl Soc Psychol 25:1262–1295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman FK, Sorsoli L, Kia-Keating M (2006) A gale force wind: meaning making by male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Am J Orthopsychiatry 76:434–443

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes AM, Laurenceau J, Feldman G, Strauss JL, Cardaciotto L (2007) Change is not always linear: the study of nonlinear and discontinuous patterns of change in psychotherapy. Clin Psychol Rev 27:715–723

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heine SJ, Proulx T, Vohs KD (2006) The meaning maintenance model: on the coherence of social motivations. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 10:88–110

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helgeson VS, Reynolds KA, Tomich PL (2006) A meta-analytic review of benefit finding and growth. J Consult Clin Psychol 74:797–816

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hembree EA, Foa EB (2000) Posttraumatic stress disorder: psychological factors and psychosocial interventions. J Clin Psychiatry 61:33–39

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holland JM, Currier JM, Coleman RA, Neimeyer RA (2010) The integration of stressful life experiences scale (ISLES): development and initial validation of a new measure. Int J Stress Manag 17:325–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horowitz M (1975) Intrusive and repetitive thoughts after experimental stress. Arch Gen Psychiatry 32:1457–1463

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horowitz MJ (1986) Stress-response syndromes: a review of posttraumatic and adjustment disorders. Hosp Community Psychiatry 37:241–249

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hyun KS, Kjervik D, Belyea M, Choi ES (2011) Personal strength and finding meaning in conjugally bereaved older adults: a four-year prospective analysis. Death Stud 35:197–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janoff-Bulman R (1989) Assumptive worlds and the stress of traumatic events: applications of the schema construct. Soc Cognit 7:113–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janoff-Bulman R, Frantz CM (1997) The impact of trauma on meaning: from meaningless world to meaningful life. In: Power MJ, Brewin CR (eds) The transformation of meaning in psychological therapies: integrating theory and practice. Wiley, Hoboken, pp 91–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Janoff-Bulman R, Frieze IH (1983) A theoretical perspective for understanding reactions to victimization. J Soc Issues 39:1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jim HS, Richardson SA, Golden-Kreutz DM, Andersen BL (2006) Strategies used in coping with a cancer diagnosis predict meaning in life for survivors. Health Psychol 25:753–761

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jin Y (2010) Making sense sensibly in crisis communication: how publics’ crisis appraisals influence their negative emotions, coping strategy preferences, and crisis response. Accept Commun Res 37:522–552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joseph S, Linley PA (2005) Positive adjustment to threatening events: an organismic valuing theory of growth through adversity. Rev Gen Psychol 9:262–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karoly P (1999) A goal systems-self-regulatory perspective on personality, psychopathology, and change. Rev Gen Psychol 3:264–291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellas JK, Trees AR (2006) Finding meaning in difficult family experiences: sense-making and interaction processes during joint family storytelling. J Fam Commun 6:49–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King LA, Hicks JA, Krull JL, Del Gaiso AK (2006) Positive affect and the experience of meaning in life. J Pers Soc Psychol 90:179–196

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kliewer W, Sullivan TN (2008) Community violence exposure, threat appraisal, and adjustment in adolescents. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 37:860–873

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klinger E (1977) Meaning & void: inner experience and the incentives in people’s lives. University of Minnesota Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Klinger E (1998) The search for meaning in evolutionary perspective and its clinical implications. In: Wong PTP, Fry PS (eds) The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical applications. Erlbaum, Mahwah, pp 27–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Koltko-Rivera ME (2004) The psychology of worldviews. Rev Gen Psychol 8:3–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koss MP, Figueredo AJ (2004) Change in cognitive mediators of rape’s impact on psychosocial health across 2 years of recovery. J Consult Clin Psychol 72:1063–1072

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuijer RG, de Ridder DTD (2003) Discrepancy in illness-related goals and quality of life in chronically ill patients: the role of self-efficacy. Psychol Health 18:313–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus RS (1991) Cognition and motivation in emotion. Am Psychol 46:352–367

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus RS (1993) Coping theory and research: past, present, and future. Psychosom Med 55:234–247

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leary MR, Tangney JP (2003) The self as an organizing construct in the behavioral sciences. In: Leary MR, Tangney JP (eds) Handbook of self and identity. Guilford, New York, pp 3–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee V, Cohen SR, Edgar L, Laizner AM, Gagnon AJ (2004) Clarifying “meaning” in the context of cancer research: a systematic literature review. Palliat Support Care 2:291–303

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lepore SJ (2001) A social-cognitive processing model of emotional adjustment to cancer. In: Baum A, Andersen BL (eds) Psychosocial interventions for cancer. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 99–116

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lepore SJ, Helgeson VS (1998) Social constraints, intrusive thoughts, and mental health after prostate cancer. J Soc Clin Psychol 17:89–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepore SJ, Silver RC, Wortman CB, Wayment HA (1996) Social constraints, intrusive thoughts, and depressive symptoms among bereaved mothers. J Pers Soc Psychol 70:271–282

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lequerica AH, Forchheimer M, Albright KJ, Tate DG, Duggan CH, Rahman RO (2010) Stress appraisal in women with spinal cord injury: supplementary findings through mixed methods. Int J Stress Manag 17:259–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Littleton HL, Magee KT, Axsom D (2007) A meta-analysis of self-attributions following three types of trauma: sexual victimization, illness, and injury. J Appl Soc Psychol 37:515–553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor I, Little BR (1998) Personal projects, happiness, and meaning: on doing well and being yourself. J Pers Soc Psychol 74:494–512

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McIntosh DN, Silver RC, Wortman CB (1993) Religion’s role in adjustment to a negative life event: coping with the loss of a child. J Pers Soc Psychol 65:812–821

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mendoza-Denton R, Hansen N (2007) Networks of meaning: intergroup relations, cultural worldviews, and knowledge activation principles. Soc Pers Psychol Compass 1:68–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michael ST, Snyder CR (2005) Getting unstuck: the roles of hope, finding meaning, and rumination in the adjustment to bereavement among college students. Death Stud 29:435–458

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mikulincer M, Florian V (1996) Coping and adaptation to trauma and loss. In: Zeidner M, Endler N (eds) Handbook of coping: theory, research, applications. Wiley, Oxford, pp 554–572

    Google Scholar 

  • Mischel W, Morf CC (2003) The self as a psycho-social dynamic processing system: a meta- perspective on a century of the self in psychology. In: Leary MR, Tangney JP (eds) Handbook of self and identity. Guilford, New York, pp 15–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Neimeyer RA (2001) The language of loss: grief therapy as a process of meaning reconstruction. In: Neimeyer RA (ed) Meaning reconstruction and the experience of loss. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 261–292

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Neimeyer RA (2002) Traumatic loss and the reconstruction of meaning. J Palliat Med 5:935–942

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pakenham KI (2007) Making sense of multiple sclerosis. Rehabil Psychol 52:380–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pakenham KI, Sofronoff K, Samios C (2004) Finding meaning in parenting a child with Asperger syndrome: correlates of sense making and benefit finding. Res Dev Disabil 25:245–264

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pargament KI (1997) The psychology of religion and coping: theory, research, practice. Guilford, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Park CL (2005a) Religion and meaning. In: Paloutzian RF, Park CL (eds) Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. Guilford, New York, pp 295–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Park CL (2005b) Religion as a meaning-making framework in coping with life stress. J Soc Issues 61:707–729

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL (2008) Testing the meaning making model of coping with loss. J Soc Clin Psychol 27:970–994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL (2009) Overview of theoretical perspectives. In: Park CL, Lechner S, Antoni MH, Stanton A (eds) Positive life change in the context of medical illness: can the experience of serious illness lead to transformation? American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 11–30

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL (2010a) Making sense of the meaning literature: an integrative review of meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events. Psychol Bull 136:257–301

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL (2010b) Stress, coping, and meaning. In: Folkman S (ed) Oxford handbook of stress, health, and coping. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 227–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Park CL (2013) Positive psychology perspectives across the cancer continuum: meaning, spirituality, and growth. In: Steel J, Carr B (eds) Psychological aspects of cancer. Springer, New York, pp 101–118

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Blumberg CJ (2002) Disclosing trauma through writing: testing the meaning-making hypothesis. Cognit Ther Res 26:597–616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Folkman S (1997) Meaning in the context of stress and coping. Rev Gen Psychol 1:115–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Folkman S, Bostrom A (2001) Appraisals of controllability and coping in caregivers and HIV + men: testing the goodness-of-fit hypothesis. J Consult Clin Psychol 69:481–488

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Aldwin CM, Fenster JR, Snyder L (2008a) Coping with September 11th: post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth in a national sample. Am J Orthopsychiatry 78:300–312

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Edmondson D, Fenster JR, Blank TO (2008b) Meaning making and psychological adjustment following cancer: the mediating roles of growth, life meaning, and restored just-world beliefs. J Consult Clin Psychol 76:863–875

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Malone M, Suresh DP, Bliss D, Rosen R (2008c) Coping, meaning in life, and quality of life in congestive heart failure patients. Qual Life Res 17:21–26

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Lechner S, Antoni M, Stanton A (eds) (2009) Positive life change in the context of medical illness: can the experience of serious illness lead to transformation? American Psychological Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Bharadwaj AK, Blank TO (2011) Illness centrality, disclosure, and well-being in younger adult cancer survivors. Br J Health Psychol 16(4):880–889

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Park CL, Mills M, Edmondson D (2012) PTSD as meaning violation: a test of a cognitive worldview perspective. Psychol Trauma 4(1):66–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkes CM (1993) Bereavement as a psychosocial transition: processes of adaptation to change. In: Stroebe MS, Stroebe W, Hansson RO (eds) Handbook of bereavement: theory, research, and intervention. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 91–101

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Proulx T, Heine SJ (2007) Death and black diamonds: meaning, mortality, and the meaning maintenance model. Psychol Inq 7:309–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Randles D, Proulx T, Heine SJ (2011) Turn-frogs and careful-sweaters: non-conscious perception of incongruous word pairings provokes fluid compensation. J Exp Soc Psychol 47:246–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen HN, Wrosch C, Scheier MF, Carver CS (2006) Self-regulation processes and health: the importance of optimism and goal adjustment. J Pers 74:1721–1747

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reker GT, Wong PTP (1988) Aging as an individual process: toward a theory of personal meaning. In: Birren JE, Bengston VL (eds) Emergent theories of aging. Springer, New York, pp 214–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Resick PA, Galovski TE, Uhlmansiek MO, Scher CD, Clum GA, Young-Xu Y (2008) A randomized clinical trial to dismantle components of cognitive processing therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder in female victims of interpersonal violence. J Consult Clin Psychol 76:243–258

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roesch SC, Weiner B (2001) A meta-analytic review of coping with illness: do causal attributions matter? J Psychosom Res 50:205–219

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Russell CS, White MB, White CP (2006) Why me? Why now? Why multiple sclerosis?: making meaning and perceived quality of life in a midwestern sample of patients with multiple sclerosis. Fam Syst Health 24:65–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sawyer A, Ayers S, Field AP (2010) Posttraumatic growth and adjustment among individuals with cancer or HIV/AIDS: a meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev 30:436–447

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scheppele KL, Bart PB (1983) Through women’s eyes: defining danger in the wake of sexual assault. J Soc Issues 39:63–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schroevers M, Kraaij V, Garnefski N (2007) Goal disturbance, cognitive coping strategies, and psychological adjustment to different types of stressful life event. Pers Individ Differ 43:413–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silver R, Boon C, Stones M (1983) Searching for meaning in misfortune: making sense of incest. J Soc Issues 39:81–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skaggs BG, Barron CR (2006) Searching for meaning in negative events: concept analysis. J Adv Nurs 53:559–570

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steger MF, Park CL (2012) The creation of meaning following trauma: meaning making and trajectories of distress and recovery. In: McMackin RA, Keane TM, Newman E, Fogler JM (eds) Toward an integrated approach to trauma focused therapy: placing evidence-based interventions in an expanded psychological context. American Psychological Association Press, Washington, DC, pp 171–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Sweeney K (2008) Crisis decision theory: decisions in the face of negative events. Psychol Bull 134:61–76

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor SE (1983) Adjustment to threatening events: a theory of cognitive adaptation. Am Psychol 38:1161–1171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor SE, Wood JV, Lichtman RR (1983) It could be worse: selective evaluation as a response to victimization. J Soc Issues 39:19–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tennen H, Affleck G (2002) Benefit-finding and benefit-reminding. In: Snyder CR, Lopez SJ (eds) Handbook of positive psychology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 584–597

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson SC (1985) Finding positive meaning in a stressful event and coping. Basic Appl Soc Psychol 6:279–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson S, Janigian A (1988) Life schemes: a framework for understanding the search for meaning. J Soc Clin Psychol 7:260–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Updegraff JA, Silver RC, Holman EA (2008) Searching for and finding meaning in collective trauma: results from a national longitudinal study of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. J Pers Soc Psychol 95:709–722

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vallacher RR, Wegner DM (1987) What do people think they’re doing? Action identification and human behavior. Psychol Rev 94:3–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Der Veek S, Kraaij V, Van Koppen W, Garnefski N, Joekes K (2007) Goal disturbance, cognitive coping and psychological distress in HIV-infected persons. J Health Psychol 12:225–230

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins ER (2008) Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychol Bull 134:163–206

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Westphal M, Bonanno GA (2007) Posttraumatic growth and resilience to trauma: different sides of the same coin or different coins? Appl Psychol Int Rev 56:417–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White CA (2004) Meaning and its measurement in psychosocial oncology. Psychooncology 13:468–481

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White K, Lehman DR (2005) Looking on the bright side: downward counterfactual thinking in response to negative life events. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 31:1413–1424

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wood W, Conway M (2006) Subjective impact, meaning making, and current and recalled emotions for self-defining memories. J Pers 74:811–845

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wortman CB, Silver RC (1987) Coping with irrevocable loss. In: VandenBos GR, Bryant BK (eds) Cataclysms, crises, and catastrophes: psychology in action. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 185–235

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wright MO, Crawford E, Sebastian K (2007) Positive resolution of childhood sexual abuse experiences: the role of coping, benefit-finding and meaning-making. J Fam Violence 22:597–608

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wrosch C, Heckhausen J, Lachman ME (2006) Goal management across adulthood and old age: the adaptive value of primary and secondary control. In: Mroczek DK, Little TD (eds) Handbook of personality development. Erlbaum, Mahwah, pp 399–421

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu L, Bonanno G, DuHamel K, Redd WH, Rini C, Austin J et al (2008) Pre-bereavement meaning and post-bereavement distress in mothers of children who underwent haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Br J Health Psychol 13:419–433

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Crystal L. Park

Authors
  1. Crystal L. Park
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Crystal L. Park .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Dept. of Psychology, Texas A&M University, TAMU 4235, College Station, 77843, Texas, USA

    Joshua A. Hicks

  2. , Dept of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Minard Hall, Fargo, 58105, North Dakota, USA

    Clay Routledge

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Park, C.L. (2013). Trauma and Meaning Making: Converging Conceptualizations and Emerging Evidence. In: Hicks, J., Routledge, C. (eds) The Experience of Meaning in Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6527-6_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation