Lived Experiences of Resilience in Disaster: Riding the Waves of Survival and Making Meaning

Capturing new waves of thought on resilience and recovery, Citraningtyas explores how people survive and make meaning in disasters by bringing together survivor experiences from natural disaster events in two vastly different cultural contexts.

By presenting a holistic model of conceptualising people’s experiences of dealing with disastrous situations, this book transcends psychiatric approaches of trauma recovery. It uses metaphors to present harrowing and inspiring survivor narratives from the 2004 tsunami in Aceh and the 2003 Canberra bushfires and analyzes the ways in which survivors tried to cope and make sense of their experiences as well as their own lives, in order to cope. Through embodied metaphors to unravel different aspects of meaning‑making following disasters, Citraningtyas provides insights into how culture can shape our experiences and responses to disaster, and brings forth deep commonalities in inherently human experiences.

This book will appeal to researchers interested in understanding trauma resilience and recovery as well as mental health practitioners and disaster survivors.

Theresia Citraningtyas is a Psychiatrist, Personality and Human Relations educator and the Vice Rector for Student Affairs, Alumni Relations, Partnerships and Entrepreneurship at Krida Wacana Christian University, Indonesia. She has a Master of Women’s Health from the University of Melbourne and a PhD from the Australian National University.