Autoethnographic Praxis of Recovery from Complex Trauma
Date
2013-12-18
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Abstract
This is an exploratory autoethnographic research project using anti-oppression theory on recovery from complex trauma. Data analysis focused on poetry that was generated during my graduate studies. Recovery is an emergent approach to mental health and is a process that has been virtually unresearched. A recovery intervention focuses on hope, taking responsibility for illness management, finding purposeful meaning in life, resuming control of one’s life, and redefinition of self. Emotion-focused coping, spirituality, peer support, and the unconditional positive regard of at least one person are also important in recovery. Hope for recovery gradually shifted from faith in trauma recovery and anti-oppression theories, through an evolving faith in Spirit, through an arising hope in myself, and through an emergent hope in relationships. Indicators of recovery suggested in the literature and reflected in the data include increased capacity for self-regulation, deconditioned traumatic memories, shedding of a victim identity, and identity reclamation.
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Social Work
Citation
Smith-Windsor, M. P. (2013). Autoethnographic Praxis of Recovery from Complex Trauma (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25071