RESILIENCE Staying strong

Transcription

1 RESILIENCE Staying strong SHANE MARTIN REG.PSYCHOL.,PS.S.I Three realities We are all vulnerable We will all face challenges, crises We underestimate our own potential to cope during the challenging times 1

2 What is resilience? Resilience is the process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaption despite challenging or threatening circumstances (Master, Best & Garmezy, 1990) More than education, more than experience, more than training, a person s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. That s true in the cancer ward, it s true in the Olympics, and its true in the boardroom. Dean Becker, Harvard Business Review 2

3 What is resilience? Resilience is predicated on exposure to significant threat or adversity, and on the attainment of good outcomes despite this exposure. (Luthar, Cicchetti & Becker, 2000) How come some people can pick themselves up? How come some others don t; they become stuck? How come some people can box cleverly during crisis? And others are knocked out with the first blow? 3

4 Why the interest in resilience? If we can find and identify elements of resilience, then ways of helping those with low resilience could be developed. In a stressful, recession stricken, fast-changing world, boosting resilience in individuals, families and communities could have very beneficial effects GREAT NEWS It can be learned New research New interventions (particularly for children) 4

5 Resilience A unique journey Unique for each person Certain factors are consistently shown to be important HOWEVER SOME PEOPLE THRIVE THROUGH ADVERSITY What do the survivors have? What do survivors have that shattered people do not have? 5

6 1. EMOTIONAL AWARENESS OR REGULATION The ability to identify what you re feeling and express your emotions, and when necessary, the ability to control your feelings 2. IMPULSE CONTROL Highly resilient people are able to tolerate ambiguity so they don t rush to make decisions. They sit back and look at things in a thoughtful way before acting 6

7 3. OPTIMISM Having an optimistic explanatory style Realistic optimism Optimism which facilitates problem-solving wed to reality 4. CAUSAL ANALYSIS This means the ability to think comprehensively about the problems /challenges you confront. Looking at problems from many perspectives, considering many factors and consulting with others 7

8 5. EMPATHY People who score high on emotional awareness and understand their emotions tend also to score high on empathy the ability to read and understand the emotions of others Helps build relationships and gives social support 6. SELF-EFFICACY Confidence in your ability to solve problems. Knowing what your strengths and weakness are and relying on your strengths to cope Different than self-esteem it is not just about feeling good about yourself it s a skills-based mastery of coping 8

9 7. REACHING OUT Being prepared to take support Taking all the help you can get Willing to try things and see failure as a temporary setback not as a life crisis Not an exhaustive list Don t need to score high in them all to be given the stamp of resilience Major progress occurs by even considering which of the seven factors we are strong at and playing to these strengths as much as possible Every factor can be worked on 9

10 TIPS FROM PEOPLE WHO DON T FALL APART EASILY Tips from survivors Rational thinking People need people supporting each other Consultation not advising yourself 10

11 Tips from survivors Understanding the physiology of our responses to threat Communication: talking it through not bottling (saying how you feel) Potential: you have competencies, resources and protective processes to draw on Tips from survivors Prayer an inner belief that we are being looked after Allowing health protection strategies sit alongside pain, grief, sorrow Time is not a healer but we learn to cope better 11

12 Tips from survivors Perspective: it could be worse filtering positively What is lost does not diminish what we still have (sense of gratitude) The Healing Self Meditation The gift of TODAY humour Laughing one hundred times amounts to the same exercise as riding a stationary bike for fifteen minutes. Five minutes of intense laughter can double the heart rate. Three minutes of laughter is equivalent to three minutes on a rowing machine. Laughter stimulates circulation, tones muscles, energises lungs and stimulates endorphins in the immune system. Dr William Fry (Stanford University) 12