Finding meaning in the meaningless. How narrative meaning-making relates to post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of the Strasbourg Christmas market attack.

BACKGROUND

Traumatic events may deeply modify one's views on oneself, others and the world. Finding meaning after traumatic events may be determinant to psychological adjustment and post-traumatic growth.

OBJECTIVES

Our study aims at investigating the association of narrative meaning-making with post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic stress disorder among individuals exposed to a terrorist attack.

METHODS

We recruited participants exposed to December 2018 Strasbourg Christmas market attack. The participants narrated three memories: their experience of the terrorist attack (TAM) and two self-defining memories (SDMs). Each narrative was assessed in terms of meaning-making. A total meaning score was calculated to express the cumulated presence of meaning in the three memories. Post-traumatic growth and PTSD were assessed by the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) and the Post-traumatic Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), respectively.

RESULTS

Thirty-six participants took part to the study and 108 memories were recorded. Post-traumatic growth was relevantly associated with meaning-making for TAMs (Pr (meaning > no meaning) = 0.993) and with the total meaning score (Pr (β > 0) = 0.998); while PTSD was not (Pr (meaning > no meaning) = 0.941 and = 0.618, respectively). In multivariate analyses, both meaning-making for TAMs (Pr (meaning > no meaning) = 0.984) and the total meaning score (Pr (meaning > no meaning) = 0.976) remained associated with post-traumatic growth.

CONCLUSIONS

A general meaning-making ability after striking life-events may contribute to the emergence of post-traumatic growth after a traumatic event. Our findings suggest new directions emphasizing on meaning-making in trauma-focused therapies.