The email arrived on a Monday. Redundancy. After eight years in the marketing department. Sarah M. sat in her kitchen, stared at her laptop, and felt the ground open beneath her. Three months later, she had founded her own consultancy. Today she says: "Being made redundant was the best thing that could have happened to me." Stories like this are familiar. People who emerge from crisis stronger than before. But what is actually behind this phenomenon?
The Paradoxical Effect of Upheaval
Psychologists call it post-traumatic growth. An unwieldy term for a striking observation: people can grow not merely in spite of deep crises, but precisely because of them. Researchers Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte coined the term in the 1990s. They found that many people reported positive changes after severe blows of fate: deeper relationships, new life goals, a strengthened sense of self.
"Psychological upheaval is a precondition for this. Apparently, the worldview of those affected must be shaken sufficiently for them to be able to build a new and more stable one."
That is how Judith Mangelsdorf, Professor of Positive Psychology at the German University of Health and Sport, explains it. The evidence is impressive: according to current studies, between 30 and 90 percent of people who have experienced a trauma report at least one aspect of personal growth. A 2019 meta-analysis by Mangelsdorf and colleagues, drawing on data from 122 studies, confirms it: the positive changes are measurable and real.
Not the Same Thing: Growth Is Not Resilience
A common misconception concerns the difference between resilience and post-traumatic growth. Someone who responds with resilience stays psychologically stable and passes through the crisis largely unscathed. That is valuable, but it does not produce profound transformation. Post-traumatic growth, by contrast, requires the upheaval. It unfolds like an earthquake: first the old structure is destroyed, then the painstaking work of rebuilding begins.
This is precisely where premature advice becomes dangerous. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" - such sayings sound pleasant enough. But they can put pressure on people who are currently in the deepest valley. In the acute phase of crisis, when fear and despair dominate, there is no room for growth. Research has made this clear: growth takes time. On average, it takes one to one and a half years before positive changes emerge.
Crisis at Work: When the Job Becomes a Trauma
For a long time, research focused on classic traumas such as accidents, illness, or loss. But the world of work is increasingly coming into focus. Sally Maitlis of the University of Oxford examined in a comprehensive 2020 review how people can grow from professional setbacks (Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior). Redundancies, failed projects, toxic managers: all of these can lead to professional growth.
Studies on unemployment show that some people use involuntary job loss as a trigger to pursue new career paths. They switch industries, found companies, or discover hidden talents. Not everyone manages this. But for those who do, the crisis becomes an opportunity.
What Actually Helps
What fosters this growth? Three factors play a central role. First: positive emotions, even during difficult phases. This does not mean suppressing pain, but allowing small moments of gratitude or hope. Second: social support. People need other people who listen without judging. Third: the ability to adopt new perspectives. Those who cling rigidly to old beliefs find it harder to move forward.
What Remains: Cautious Hope
Post-traumatic growth is not a universal promise of salvation. It does not happen to everyone. And it does not mean that traumas are desirable. The negative consequences of crises, depression, anxiety, physical complaints, remain real and serious. Yet the recognition that growth is possible can offer comfort. It allows people sitting in the valley to look ahead.
For Sarah M., the marketing manager who was made redundant, growth did not come overnight. It took months of uncertainty, tears, sleepless nights. Today she says: "I would not want to undo the redundancy. But I wish someone had told me: it is allowed to hurt first." That, precisely, is the message. The pain is part of it. And sometimes, not always, something new grows from it.
