International Perspectives on PTSD & PTG

Contents: INDIA, NORWAY AND POLAND. 1. An Introduction to International Perspectives on PTSD and PTG: Learning to Thrive from the Military/Ole Boe, Andrzej Piotrowski and Samir Rawat. 2. Resilience as a Path to Post-Traumatic Growth/Ole Boe, Andrzej Piotrowski and Samir Rawat. 3. Self-regulation for Skill Acquisition and Enhanced Performance Consequent to Trauma/Samir Rawat, Abhijit Deshpande, Ole Boe and Andrzej. Piotrowski. 4. Soldiers’ PTSD and PTG: A Systematic Review/Ewa Sygit-Kowalkowska, Ole Boe, Samir Rawat and Andrzej Piotrowski. BELGIUM. 5. Military Psychology for First Responders After Mass-Murders: The Seven-Step Plan/Salvatore Lo Bue, Frederic Goethals and Jeroen Van den Bossch. INDIA. 6.  Transformative Experience of Young ‘Agniveer’ Warriors (YAWs) in Combat: Inoculation Against Potential PTSD in Future Operations/Samir Rawat. 7. Military ‘Treducation’ as Lessons Learnt during Crisis: Learning, Unlearning and Relearning/Samir Rawat, Abhijit P. Deshpande and Priya Joshi. 8. Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Social Capital in Moving from PTSD to PTG/Gayatri Ahuja. 9. Learning to Thrive from Military Spouses: Social Relatedness and Benefit Finding from ‘Cost of Caring’/Utkarsh Borode. 10. Self-organising as a Choice Towards Healthy Adaptation: An Indian Approach for Warriors/Devayani Kashyap. 11. Reviving Organisational Morale and Productivity: Learning From Military in the Post-Pandemic Reconstruction/Priya Joshi. 12. Rebounding from Compassion Fatigue to Compassion Satisfaction Following Vicarious Exposure to War and Pandemic Situations/Shradha Sharma. 13. Challenges from Military to Civilian Life: Social Identity and Social Connectedness/Antony Fernandes. 14. Spirituality to the Rescue in Transcending from PTSD to PTG During Pandemic/Shradha Sharma and Kavita Mishra. IRAN. 15. Building Resilience and Emotional Intelligence for Psychological Growth During Pandemic/Mahanaz Forouzan. NETHERLANDS. 16. Raising Awareness about Responsibilities of Military Leaders Regarding PTSD and Moral Injury/Myckel Cremers. NORWAY. 17. Character Strengths that Resonate in a Post-Pandemic World/Ole Boe. 18. Transgressing from PTSD to PTG: Valuable Lessons for Non-Military Populations/Ole Boe and Glenn-Egil Torgersen. 19. With Afghanistan Veterans as Backdrop: Exploring, Measuring and Explaining New Factors of Post-Traumatic Growth/Roger Lien and Kristian Firing. 20. Tough People Cry, Share, and Encounter: Implications for 381 Organisational Learning/Trygve J. Steiro, Kristian Firing, Glenn-Egil Torgersen and Herner Saeverot. OMAN. 21. Responsibility with Accountability: Instilling Military Culture in Non-Military Environments/Saif Al Hashmi. POLAND. 22. Post-Traumatic Growth: Is Military Psychology Keeping Pace with Clinical Psychology?/Andrzej Piotrowski. 23. PTSD Experiences in Hybrid Conflict in Ukraine/Piotr Pacek. 24. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic: As a Chance for Development and Post-Traumatic Growth/Anna Osuch. ROMANIA. 25. Stress and Contextual Performance in Military Operations: The Moderating Role of Hardiness and Psychological Capital/Vasile Doru Marineanu, Catalin Constantin Calin and Loredana-Cristina Cioranu. SERBIA. 26. Post-Traumatic Growth During Pandemic from Young People’s Standpoint/Jelena Miniae, Miljana Paviaeeviae and Miroslav Krstiae. SWITZERLAND. 27. On the Effectiveness of a Resilience Training in the Swiss Armed Forces/Hubert Annen, Regula Zuger and Madlaina Niederhauser. USA. 28. Exploring Connection Between Gender Roles and Post-Traumatic Growth/Amanda Metcalfe, Phillip Morris and Richard Delewski. 29. A Pedagogical and Psychological Model for Post-Traumatic Growth/Glenn-Egil Torgersen, Ole Boe, Samir Rawat and Andrzej Piotrowski.

There are a number of reactions to traumatic experiences, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the possible outcomes from atrocities experienced from war or war-related situations. Military response to PTSD is a topic that is of importance as it affects people all over the world. PTSD has been both known and investigated for some time now. On the other hand, the less known phenomena post-traumatic growth (PTG) based upon the premise that  people who endure psychological struggle following adversity can often see positive growth afterward, has more recently been subject to more attention around the world. This book is written by both military and civilian specialists working in the field of military psychology and/or military leadership and police psychology; it consists of 29 chapters written by 37 authors from 11 countries. This book is a contribution to understanding the fields of military psychology and leadership better. It will facilitate learning about theories, research, and best practices when it comes to dealing with PTSD and PTG in the military. The intention of this book is to provoke some thoughts on how military psychology and leadership can be applied in not just military contexts but also to explore diversity of applications in different realms. This book will be a primer in opening the plethora of research in the immediate future to cater for the fragilities in the human mind as a consequence of traumatic experiences.

Hopefully, this book will provide readers with a better understanding of the psychological challenges related to PTSD and PTG that we see arise from war and other traumatic experiences as well as insights in moving towards application of psychological principles in a new era of odds thrust upon us.