01391nas a2200217   4500000000100000008004100001260007600042653001100118653002200129653001800151653002500169653001500194100002100209700002100230245004600251300001200297490000600309520083000315022001401145020001401159       2003                            d  c07/2003bSociedad Española para el Estudio de la Ansiedad y el Estrés10aTrauma10aPositive emotions10aVulnerability10aPosttraumatic growth10aResilience1 aCarmelo Vázquez1 aPau Pérez-Sales00aPositive emotions, trauma, and resistance  a231-2540 v93 aIn this paper we defend a new framework, based in positive emotions, to conceptualize posttraumatic stress reactions. Clinical models of psychopathology have traditionally focused on issues as vulnerability and deficits. Yet, psychological research in the last decade has shown that positive emotions and cognitions are necessary to understand human psychological functioning. We review the role that such positive elements (e.g., personality traits, emotional positive self-regulation, etc.) may have to fully understand human response in facing adversity. A reconceptualization of trauma from that new point of view may also help to understand such common phenomena as resilience, or posttraumatic growth. That approach may also help to develop effective preventive and therapeutic strategies to deal with trauma responses.  a1134-7937  a2174-0437