Resilience is defined as the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. It can be a psychological toughness. Why are we so interested in resilience, the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with stress? Perhaps because this world is placing more stress and pressure on us than ever before. Many mental and mood disorders have some relationship to adverse life events. High neuroticism, previous traumas, and comorbidity makes resilience less likely, and increases predisposition to such disorders as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Paris, 2015). The American Psychological Association (2022) states that “resilience is 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.”
How can we build up our resilience to cope with pressure?
Some proposed factors that can increase resilience are adjusting our perspective. The way we view a situation and our attitude towards the situation can increase or decrease our stress level. Attitude might not be everything, but it definitely is something. This has been shown to be the case in a study by Simmons et al. (2012) in which Navy SEALs showed minimal reactivity in the insular cortex or insula during negative stimuli, as well as an enhanced ability to efficiently change their physiological state. The decreased activation in this particular brain region has been associated with the level of importance that the individual attaches to the negative stimuli, meaning if you and I see the bigger picture rather than make a mountain out of a molehill we are more likely to be resilient.
Furthermore, it is important to utilize all available resources (APA, 2022). The greater our social support, the more we plug into our available network of faith, family, friends, the more resilient we will be. Isolation is an enemy that will only make capitulation more likely. When we isolate ourselves, we emphasize our own anxieties, negative thoughts and feelings become exaggerated, making them much more difficult to conquer.
Lastly, have a plan or strategy (APA, 2022). There are many things that are out of our control, and we must accept that there is nothing we can do about them, this will decrease anxiety. However, to the extent that we can take practical measures we should. The strategies to increase our resilience might be direct, such as looking for a new job if we lost our previous employment. But much more often they are indirect strategies, such as having a regular exercise routine, eating healthy, expressing our thoughts and feelings to our loved ones, going for a walk, taking a vacation, nourishing our spirituality, getting a massage, or relaxing in a sauna/steam room.
The ability to bounce back or to be resilient is not a single factor issue, nor is it exclusively innate. We are not just born resilient. It takes conscious effort, but the benefits of resilience are significant. Resilience “is associated with faster cardiovascular recovery from negative emotions, and a diminished negative affective reaction to pain exacerbations. It decreases blood pressure; it lowers the risk of stroke and heart attack. Positive emotions counteract the force of stress” (Finan et al., 2011).