Positive Growth Following Acquired Physical Disability

People acquire physical disabilities through aging and a multitude of mishaps, diseases, and infections. Although clinicians have offered many different explanations for the diverse psychological reactions that occur in the wake of physical disabilities, few have applied scientific tools to study these behaviors, and fewer still have presented heuristic and testable theoretical explanations. Moreover, most observers have overlooked the potentially valuable experience of acquiring a physical disability. Writers have given only scant attention to positive growth and optimal living with chronic health problems, as well as the related searches for meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. In this chapter, we first will review the historical perspectives regarding adjustment to the onset of physical disability. We then will present a model for understanding such adjustment, along with supporting evidence. Finally, we will discuss relevant measures and intervention practices that merit use in practice and research and will propose directions for future study.