Exploring traumas in the development of talent: What are they, what do they do, and what do they require?

Abstract

It has recently been argued that performers benefit from trauma (i.e., memorable challenges) during development. To deepen knowledge in this area, we explored perceived traumas in the development of twenty senior-international performers with a multi-methods, temporal-based design. Results showed perceived traumas were primarily sports-based, recognized from onset of investment, associated with immediately negative but ultimately positive impact, and negotiated through skills that were brought to, rather than generated by, these experiences. The findings provide an interesting contrast to messages in other early trauma-focused research and promote focus on the process and mechanisms of responding to and recovering from traumatic experiences.