Etymology :Resilience comes from the Latin term resilio “back behind, back from a jump, highlight, bounce”.
MEANING
This word in psychology refers to people who despite suffering stressful situations manage to overcome them and not be psychologically affected by them. As for physics and chemistry, this word designates the ability of any material to recover its initial form after having exerted a force that deforms it. At the same time, Resilience is the ability to succeed in a way that is acceptable to society despite stress or adversity that usually entails a serious risk of negative outcomes. It is also defined as a process of competitiveness where the person must adapt positively to adverse situations.
HISTORY
Throughout history the word Resilience has been used in various ways. Among psychologists, Emmy Werner, in 1995 refers to three general uses of the term resilience: good development despite high social risk; maintenance of skills despite continuous stress; and recovery after trauma.
Emily Hunter (1999), conceptualizes resilience as a continuum between two poles: “less than optimal resilience” and “optimal resilience”. For adolescents at psychosocial risk who respond less than optimally, this type of response includes “violent survival tactics, high-risk behaviors, and social and emotional abandonment,” and that the prognosis is most likely to be poorly adapted adults.
Michael Rutter, between 1999 and 2000, defines resilience as resistance relative to psychosocial risk, without necessarily expecting a positive outcome, but rather focused on the way or process in which the person faces the risk. Rutter developed his studies from three areas of research: the study of high-risk populations such as children of parents with mental illness; the studies on temperament carried out in the 60s and the study of differences at the individual level to face the different life situations.
Suniya Luthar, between 2000 and 2006, defines resilience as a positive adaptation despite adversity, emphasizing the two elements that constitute it: significant adversity and positive adaptation, which leads to the conclusion that resilience is only indirectly measured through these elements. This idea is shared by several researchers.
PROCESS
Resilience is arguably strength beyond resilience. It is the ability to overcome an adverse stimulus.
Then it could be said that resilience is “a dynamic process that results in positive adaptation in a context of great adversity”, so let’s look at each term that integrates this concept such as:
- Adversity: refers to the individual achieving a positive adaptation despite being or having gone through a situation of adversity (living in poverty).
- Positive adaptation: it refers to the fact that the individual reaches social expectations associated with a stage of development and when at this stage he has not had signs of imbalances.
- Dynamic process: Refers to the dynamic interaction between multiple risk factors and resilient factors, which can be familiar, biochemical, physiological, cognitive, affective, biographical, socioeconomic, social and / or cultural.
Resilient processes: Thanks to the experience and learning of people we have been able to see and experience the change from the word resilience to resilient processes. This is because it is not considered as capacity but as a process that encompasses a multitude of factors. When a person is going through an extreme or delicate situation influences family, environment, economic situation, friendships and, of course, the same person. That is why we never talk about the capacity of a person but about an achievement of events in which several people and elements intervene to get out of that situation stronger and, therefore, learn from it. That person has gone through a resilient process.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A RESILIENT PERSON
The interest in resilience in the field of Psychology is due to several longitudinal studies, which over several decades has shown that some children and young people who have faced extreme or traumatic circumstances, do not develop mental problems, drug addiction or criminal behaviors when they become adults. Everyone has a different level of resilience, from high to low.
- They identify the situation: an expectation is generated that every optimistic person can overcome the difficulties. Systematic optimism only leads to continuous situational clashes.
- Make sense right: Resilient people must have a mission, vision and courage, the latter with common sense to offer ways to interpret and channel events.
- They organize with strategies: know how to do the most with what you have at hand. See possibilities where others only see confusion. However, the most effective improvisation is that which is developed on the basis of solidly established rules and routines.
COUNCILS
Some important tips for maintaining psychological Resilience
TIP 1: Maintain a social support network.
It’s much easier to be resilient to work and personal life challenges when you have a strong social support network. Talking about your feelings and having a strong bond with your partner, family, friends and co-workers helps you be more effective in coping with life’s difficulties.
TIP 2: Keep a third place.
An important element of resilience is to have and maintain a ‘third place’. This third place should be added to your home (first place) and your work environment (second place). Your third place should be a physical environment to which you go to relax, socialize, participate in an activity that interests you or in a hobby.
TIP 3: Help others.
Studies indicate that people who help others—by volunteering, mentoring, and other selfless actions—are more resilient than those who do not participate in such activities.
TIP 4: Exercise.
As a general rule, the healthier you are physically, the easier it will be for you to be resilient to stressors. A key to maintaining resilience is to stay active, especially through cardiovascular exercise and muscle elongations.
TIP 5: Reduce criticism of yourself.
A habit that many people have and that reduces their resilience is that they are too critical of themselves. Self-criticism is often presented as a voice in our head (sometimes called an internal monologue).
TIP 6: Put Resilient Thinking into Practice.
To implement resilient thinking, focus on the solutions, not on the problems or the feelings that generate the problems. Think of it this way: if you were to fall into a well, your thinking should focus on how to get out of the well, not on analyzing how you fell or the bad luck you have for having fallen into the well.
