THE FUSE

For decades, psychology’s conversation about adversity focused largely on disease or disorder: what trauma breaks, how violence harms, and why suffering lingers. Sherry Hamby has spent much of her career in that area. As a leading trauma researcher, she helped the field understand interpersonal violence, victimization, and long-term consequences of trauma. But over time, Hamby observed that many people exposed to severe adversity were not just surviving. They were adapting, growing, and often thriving.