Jolt ─ From Trauma to Transformation

This book delves deeply into the stories of people who survive and thrive after trauma. The diverse mix includes people from across the country who have grown as a result of accidents, grief, life-threatening illness, violence, terrorism, war injuries, brain injuries and emotional shock. Some PTG survivors are everyday men and women. Others will be well-known figures, such as Michael Milken, the junk bond king who experienced the traumas of both prison and prostate cancer and went on to single-handedly shake up the world of cancer research through his Milken Foundation, and Magic Johnson, who became an AIDS activist following his own HIV-positive diagnosis. Looking at a wide range of unanticipated traumas, Jolt will ask questions like these:

• What defines PTG?
• What is the process of change that people experience? How did a trauma survivor transform himself into an advocate?
• How does a trauma survivor's sense of identity change? Who are they now? Are they stronger than before the traumatic event? And does the traumatic event live on with them?
• Why do some people go through trauma and never really recover, while others bounce back and transform their lives to have more purpose and meaning? What about the middle ground: people who are resilient in the face of trauma but don't experience change?
• What lessons can be learned from the PTG experience to help people prepare themselves for inevitable jolts in their own lives?