Modern life is extremely stressful. Following the specialists’ points of view, stressful situations may happen for many reasons. The contemporary rhythm and speed of human beings have become more dynamic. As a rule, it occurs because most of the people have become more ambitious than it was just some decades ago. Usually, they strive to be on time and reach the maximum.
To these points, it is necessary to add ecological problems the appreciation of takeaway food, radiation from various kinds of equipment, and many other things. Unfortunately, the genetic code of humanity does not change as fast as the surrounding world, and the most vulnerable point in such an environment is the human psyche. Taking into account all the points mentioned above, it is possible to conclude why the matters of resilience training have become apparent and in demand.
Sometimes stress reaches such a level that a person ceases to cope with it. By the specialists’ investigation, studies have shown that 64% of people are stressed at work, 56% stress leads to poor sleep, 26% get sick due to stress.At the same time, about 17% of various allergic reactions occur during stress or are aggravated by it. That is why the resilience theory can be seen in practice. Knowing about such sad consequences of stress, modern people are forced to protect their psyche from overstraining. The defense of our mind is commonly called resilience.
Resilience factors
There are several factors that help to develop psychological resilience:
– the ability to set realistic objectives and taking actions to implement plans;
– confidence in own talents and abilities;
– good communication skills;
– ability to manage emotional impulses and feelings
Psychological resilience theory
All in all, stress resistance or resilience is an ability of a person to overcome difficulties, suppress the emotions, understand human moods, showing restraint and tact. It is determined by a combination of personal qualities that allow a person to bear significant intellectual, volitional, and emotional stresses due to the characteristics of professional activity. It happens without any particular harmful consequences for the actions of those who are around him or her and the health in general. Besides, it should be noted that stress tolerance is also the ability to navigate in an “emergency” situation as well as the ability to reflect excessive attacks on the psyche.
According to experts, this feature is a clear separation of what is essential to a person and what he or she can fence off with a thick wall with the inscription “not available.” Many people think that these are also constant auto-training work on the defensive abilities of the psyche and the body as a whole, and concern for their own emotions and the psychological comfort in general.
Trauma and resilience
People who have experienced trauma often need to increase their psychological resilience. Here what is possible to do in this case:
1) Practice self-care: pay attention to yourself, especially your needs and reactions. Get enough sleep, healthy food and do enjoyable activities. Use positive coping strategies and stress management techniques;
2) Develop your understanding of trauma’s impact: learn to recognize your typical reactions to traumatic factors and understand the best strategies to manage them appropriately.
3) Build strong partnerships: spend time with people who share your values and make your life experince more fulfilling;
4) Find support: connect with people who can support you, for instance family members, friends. Turn to support groups or self-help resources.
Resilience questionnaire
The Adolescent Resilience Questionnaire (ARQ) was developed in 2011 because of lack of tools that measure resilience in adolescents. It helps to define person’s ability to get positive outcomes despite life stressors. This test comprises 12 scales that measure resilience factors in the domains of self, family, peer, school and community.
Resilience Benefits
There is a list of apparent resilience benefits. Here are some of the essential ones:
1) The person who practices resilience theory usually has a calm, harmonious life. At the same time, the world inside contributes much to the world around us.
2) Strong physical health. Thanks to mental stability, people, both men, and women, are less prone to neurosis, which means that one of the factors that affect immunity significantly is excluded.
3) General creation without any destruction. When the person is not overwhelmed by depression, insomnia, hysterical conditions, physical ailments, he or she can direct the energy not to combat these unpleasant consequences of stress but to create something new, relevant, significant, or just pleasant. Awareness of one’s significance always gives self-confidence, which means it adds another brick to the construction of a wall called stress resistance.
4) A positive vision of the world, which is usually underlined by specialists as an essential position. This kind of resilience training is about the fact that problems always arise for everyone. The only question is how to relate to them.
The most visible manifestations of resilience theory in everyday life
Following the experts, the contemporary theory of stress tolerance divides people into four groups:
– Stress resistant. These include people who are more stressed than anyone else. The problem is that they do not know how to adapt to external events and are not inclined to change their behavior.
– The stressful group involves people who are ready for change, being at the same time non-cardinal and calm. This is the type of people who agrees only to gradual transformations, but more assertive intervention can lead to depression and nervous breakdowns.
– Stress brake. This is a type that is quite principled in its life positions and quite loyal to external changes. In contrast to the previous model, it would agree to rapid changes than to gradual transformation. At the same time, the peculiarity is that if stresses follow a long series, they significantly knock out people of this type. They begin to lose spirit and break into negative emotions.
– Stress resistant group by resilience theory involves people who are most resistant to harmful environmental manifestations. Their psyche is protected from destruction.
Psychological resilience book
To know all the details about the thing that interests you should read about it. It is even better when a specialist writes about the issue and offers relevant ways to overcome the problem. Here we suggest several books that should be helpful for developing resilience.
The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to finding your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life’s Hurdles (Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatte, PhD). This book is written by professionals who definitely know what needs to be done to achieve your goal. Authors describe the most necessary skills that help you understand and develop resilience. More details will be found inside.
Room (Emma Donoghue). One of the key things that prevent you from being resilient is fear. It may have a variety of forms and may show itself in very unpleasant moments. The question ‘how deal with fear’ is answered in details in this book. It is fascinating and allows you to experience a journey of the main character and hopefully find yourself in his traits.
Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back (Andrew Zolli and Anne Marie Healey). If you like social science then this book is for you. In a very simple manner authors explain social origins of resilience and how to stay strong when everything around turns against you. Reading this book is a good way to spend evenings with benefit.
The Yes Brain: How to cultivate courage, curiosity, and resilience in your child (Daniel J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson). If you have kids, then this book is totally for you. Authors describe the main factors that concern resilience and explain how to make sure that your child will grow resilient. The book is very entertaining and we think you would enjoy it.
Lisa Lisson’s Resilience: Navigating Life, Loss, and the Road to Success. It is evident that this book is an autobiography of Lisa Lisson. What is the best way to understand people? We think it is a possibility to relate to them. Autobiographies usually make people get insights about themselves while reading biographies, especially when they concern lives of ordinary people who had to overcome dozens of challenges. We believe this book is exactly the one that would allow you to connect with the author.
This is definitely not the full list of books available for you to read. The books listed above are the most popular and represent different aspects of resilience, starting for science and ending up with personal biographies.
How to develop personal resilience
We understand that it is quite hard to read all those books but here we have provided several ways that would definitely help you. Many people characterize a person as stress-resistant if he or she knows how not to spill the negative emotions on others. These resilience quotes often appear in contemporary mass media, but following by experts of ecologyandsociety.org, they are nothing but a profound error. At this moment, a person may experience depression or bad mood. However, remain tactful and be a good actor. At the same time, it is recommended not to take stress, as it can destroy the nervous system from the inside. It is necessary to demonstrate the emotions and never leave them inside.
Here is a list of some general tips for personal resilience training:
Remember that proper sleep and good rest are essential. The well-known fact that sleep is the best medicine has not been canceled! From time to time, it is recommended to give the body a complete rest, both physical and moral.
Find time for your favorite activity. Each person should have a hobby, which strengthens the faith, gives moral satisfaction, and helps relieve tension.
Be strong. It is about the ability to recover from a destroyed state. This model can be taken as the basis for psychological restoration.
If it’s challenging, do not hesitate to seek help from specialists. Sound professional advice can always come in handy. Moreover, not all of us can be Baron Munchausen and periodically pull ourselves out by the hair.
Develop a personal methodology. Since the problem of stress tolerance is one of the essential ones, there is a considerable amount of literature on this topic. Take the time to go online and, having studied the problem. Only in such a way, you can understand what is right for you.
Unfortunately, modern life can be stressful in every manifestation. However, there is also good news for everybody. Following resilience definition, some easy exercises and self-training can help contemporary men and women to avoid many problems and to lead a happy and calm life. It is necessary to obey some simple points, and the whole experience is going to change for the better.
Anton Kurapov
PhD, a professor assistant at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Fascinated by the role of psychology in lives of people and simply astonished by the complexity of the brain and its functions.
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