Resilience: an overview and perspective
Synopsis and introduction
Stressors are an integral part of living. Many of us have faced acute or sustained dramatic events that are tragic, devastating. The cognitive skills (resources) that we have available (and accessible) can be effective and adaptive allowing us to both resist stressors when they are occurring and, later, overcome them and go on with our lives. In some responses to life’s stressors are ineffective and maladaptive making tragic events even more difficult to bear. Resilience is a broad umbrella concept that defines coping adaptive strategies in the face of stressors as well as the trajectory of experience shortly after or long after dramatic stressors are no longer present. For some tragic events are also opportunities for growth and enhanced effective living.
Not all stressors are created equal and therefore resilience in response to a stressor can vary not just between individuals but also within the same subject. Stressors vary in intensity, source and duration. Some are man made and others are ‘accidents’ of nature. In addition familiarity with a stressor is also a way of distinguishing one stressor from another. Resilience in response to abuse from a family member may be quite different from the acute effects of a natural disaster not just in terms of duration of the ‘insult’ but the origin of the stressor.
One of the dramatic stressor themes that is highlighted here is the Holocaust. Experiencing the Holocaust has been a particularly powerful event that has impacted the lives of many. To be part of a societal sanctioned and perpetrated hatred and extermination (genocide) makes the Holocaust stressor experience somewhat unique. Nevertheless, the adaption (or lack of adaptation) of victims to that experience can teach us a great deal about the nature, foundations and mechanisms of resilience.
The details of the Resilience project can be downloaded from a drop box and the web address for this material can be found at
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/69262164/resilience%20drop%20box.docx
The topics covered in that draft of the project includes a sketch of what we know about resilience from the perspective of: development/genetics; neurobiology; facets of cognition including viewing resilience as a learned skill; psychopathology research; social factors; an a few examples from literature/biography and autobiography.
Stressors come in all sorts of ‘flavors’ and are an integral part of living. Many of us have faced acute or sustained dramatic events that are tragic, devastating. The cognitive skills (resources) that we have available (and accessible) can be effective and adaptive allowing us to both resist stressors when they are occurring and, later, overcome them and go on with our lives. In some responses to life’s stressors are ineffective and maladaptive making tragic events even more difficult to bear. Resilience is a broad umbrella concept that defines coping adaptive strategies in the face of stressors as well as the trajectory of experience shortly after or long after dramatic stressors are no longer present. For some tragic events are also opportunities for growth and enhanced effective living.
Not all stressors are created equal and therefore resilience in response to a stressor can vary not just between individuals but also within the same subject. Stressors vary in intensity, source and duration. Some are man made and others are ‘accidents’ of nature. In addition familiarity with a stressor is also a way of distinguishing one stressor from another. Resilience in response to abuse from a family member may be quite different from the acute effects of a natural disaster not just in terms of duration of the ‘insult’ but the origin of the stressor.
One of the dramatic stressor themes that is highlighted here is the Holocaust. Experiencing the Holocaust has been a particularly powerful event that has impacted the lives of many. To be part of a societal sanctioned and perpetrated hatred and extermination (genocide) makes the Holocaust stressor experience somewhat unique. Nevertheless, the adaption (or lack of adaptation) of victims to that experience can teach us a great deal about the nature, foundations and mechanisms of resilience.
Resilience can be developed (learned) and likely also has genetic components. Like willpower, or stamina, brain functions that are the foundations of resilience require a good deal of energy (brain metabolism) and therefore at any moment in time resilience resources can be depleted and can be restored.
Questions/issues that remain unexplored
1. Are there different types of resilience? That is, are we making a strategic mistake to lump all kinds of resilience together?
2. What do we know about changes in resilience over time? In time do we lose the resources/capacity to be resilient analogous to depletion of the energy needed to muster willpower?
3. How is resilience related to differences in threshold response to all sorts of discomforts (such as pain)?
4. Resilience may be context dependent. Under certain conditions people may be able to be more (or less) resilient. A simple example would be that of the presence or absence of people who can share the burden of dealing with stressors.
5. Can one train resilience much like training other facets of executive functions?
6. Is it possible to apply interventions that can allow someone to be more resilient?