The Surprising Science Behind What Makes A Person Resilient
What is resilience?
The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.”
Although everyone has different circumstances and predispositions, to “be resilient” is to be able to recover from and adapt well from significant sources of stress, including adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even physical injuries.
What resilience is not
Resiliency is not the complete lack of distress or not experiencing any difficulties.
On the contrary, resilience involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that anyone can learn and develop - and in order to develop those skills, exposure to difficulties in crucial! In fact, the path to becoming more resilient is likely to involve considerable emotional distress.
What do resilient people have in common?
Science shows that specific structural differences in the brain contribute to greater resilience including:
A larger hippocampi (the area of the brain primarily involved in memory and learning)
Increased activation and interconnectivity between brain areas involved in processes such as:
Planning
Decision-making
Problem-solving
Self-control
Acting with long-term goals in mind
Controlling attention
Working memory
Integration of internal and external information
Generation of emotions.
In addition, resilient people have the increased ability to regulate their emotions through the ability to process and deal with negative emotions and focus on positive memories. Typically, when people try to regulate difficult emotions they either: act out, or try to suppress them. Most people aren’t aware of a third option - feel the feeling in real time. Those who are able to feel their emotions in real time experience better sleep, improved job performance and satisfaction, closer connections to loved ones, and reduced depression.
Another characteristic of resiliency is in the wake of trauma, focusing on:
Optimism
Cognitive flexibility
Active coping skills
Maintaining a supportive social network
Attending to one's physical well-being
Embracing a personal moral compass
Some key characteristics of resiliency in older populations (MacLeod et al., 2016):
Building resiliency
Resiliency is considered a habit and active process, not an end goal! Similar to working out a muscle, the ability to be resilient can be strengthened over time.
“The good news is that the kind of cognitive strategies that appear to be supported by having a ‘resilient brain’, such as cognitive reappraisal and focusing on positive memories, can also be learned” - Laura Moreno-Lopez, Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fellow and Research Associate at the University of Cambridge.
Some great strategies to slowly build up resiliency are:
Practice gratitude
Encourage positive self talk
Keep a journal
Identify areas of negativity
Start everyday on a positive note
Seek help and guidance if needed
For further reading on how improve resiliency, check out this article by Selda Koydemir, a London-based wellbeing consultant and researcher.
To book a consultation with our clinical counsellor to talk about how to encourage resiliency through your own personal hardships, click here.
Sources
https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience
https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience/building-your-resilience
https://psyche.co/ideas/what-the-distinctive-brains-of-resilient-people-can-teach-us
https://psyche.co/guides/resilience-is-like-a-muscle-build-it-up-when-life-pulls-down
MacLeod et al. (2016). The impact of resilience among older adults. Geriatric Nursing, 37(4): 226-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2016.02.014.
Nugent, N.R., Sumner, J.A., Amstadter, A.B. (2014). Resilience after trauma: from surviving to thriving. Eur J Psychotraumatol. Oct 1;5. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v5.25339.
