Psychological resilience

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**Psychological Resilience Overview and Development:**
– Resilience defined as coping with crises and returning to pre-crisis status quickly.
– Involves personal characteristics like self-esteem and external factors like social support.
– Can be developed over time or seen as a personal trait.
– Influenced by positive emotions, social support, and hardiness.
– Resilience process involves interactions with environments promoting well-being or protecting against risks.
– Interventions like cognitive-behavioral techniques and mindfulness practices aid in resilience development.
Research shows resilience promotes mental health and well-being.
– Resilience is not a static trait but a process to develop.

**Biological Models and Impact of Stress on Resilience:**
– Resilience’s definition is complex and linked to genetics.
– Adaptation useful for predicting health and well-being.
– Bases for resilience rooted in different nervous systems.
– Influenced by epigenetic modifications and molecular adaptations.
– Neurotransmitters like GDNF and adaptations of the blood-brain barrier play roles in stress buffering.
– Stress disrupts balance and presents challenges and opportunities.
– Routine stressors can have positive impacts promoting resilience.
– Stress allows practicing resilience, with correct stress levels varying among individuals.
– Experienced during life transitions, traumatic events, and environmental pressures.
– Involves integrating physical, mental, and spiritual aspects to maintain normative developmental tasks.

**Factors Associated with Psychological Resilience:**
– Resilient individuals possess an easy temperament, good self-esteem, and planning skills.
– More likely when events are perceived as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful.
Research focuses on studying individuals engaging in life with hope and humor.
– Allows rebounding from adversity as a strengthened and resourceful person.
– Trait resilience negatively correlated with neuroticism and positively correlated with openness and positive emotionality.
– Temperamental and constitutional disposition crucial in resilience.

**Enhancing Resilience Through Social Support and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:**
– Social support crucial for resilience development.
– Definitions revolve around access to strong ties with others.
– Solidarity, trust, intimate communication, and mutual obligation key aspects.
– Cognitive-behavioral therapy and self-help approaches aid in resilience-building.
– Programs like the Penn Resiliency Program reduce depressive symptoms.
– Changing negative self-talk to positive self-talk helps in building resilience.
– Businesses and individuals can create emergency response plans for resilience.

**Resilience in Different Contexts and Populations:**
– Protective factors moderate negative effects of environmental hazards.
– Humor plays a role in elderly resilience.
– Resilience in children developed over time through exposure to challenges.
– Sports provide social support and boost self-confidence in young adults.
– Religiosity/spirituality can promote or hinder psychological virtues.
– Communities foster resilience through supportive social organizations.
– Strong relationships with adults help diminish risks for children in the family environment.

Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with a crisis, or to return to pre-crisis status quickly.

The term was popularized in the 1970s and 1980s by psychologist Emmy Werner as she conducted a forty-year-long study of a cohort of Hawaiian children who came from low socioeconomic status backgrounds.

Numerous factors influence a person's level of resilience. Internal factors include personal characteristics such as self-esteem, self-regulation, and a positive outlook on life. External factors include social support systems, including relationships with family, friends, and community, as well as access to resources and opportunities.

People can leverage psychological interventions and other strategies to enhance their resilience and better cope with adversity. These include cognitive-behavioral techniques, mindfulness practices, building psychosocial factors, fostering positive emotions, and promoting self-compassion.

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