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The importance of 'resilience' in helping people cope with adversity

By Anne Deveson - posted Monday, 16 February 2004


Emmy Werner's famous research in Hawaii which reached back over 40 years, found it was the informal stuff that worked the best, not the formal. The grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends and teachers were the ones who shone the magic, and brought resilience into young people's lives. But all of this needs community infrastructure and community workers who understand that one of the most important competencies we can give our children is therefore the ability to link into their neighbourhoods and communities.

Poor families are more vulnerable than middle-class families, not because they have less capacity to be resilient, but because they are likely to have more adversities in their life.

For quite a while, researchers tended to look at the big things that went wrong in people's lives – major traumas like war and death – but it is a cumulation of adversities that does the most harm – poverty, overcrowded homes, overcrowded schools, alcoholism or drug abuse, unemployment, sickness, separated families – a piling up of disasters which can damage the natural resilience of a child.

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Many of the early theories about resilience focused on the role of genetics. Today, we know that although genes and personality are important, they are influenced by environment from the moment of conception. Who we are, and what happens to us, helps determine how we deal with life – whether we are vulnerable to anxiety and stress; whether we are inhibited or uninhibited; how we tackle adversities; how we interact with others.

This notion of a dynamic interweaving of personality and environment is exciting because it means suddenly there are many points of possible intervention – from early childhood through to old age, all drawing upon the healing powers and adaptive resilience of the individual, strengthened by those environmental factors which might make a difference.

Hope is important; learning how to ask for help; humour; viewing ourselves and others in terms of strengths not weaknesses; and having some kind of meaning in life – which does not necessarily mean having a formal religion. Celebrated French writer, Colette, who was crippled by arthritis in old age found meaning in the beauty that she saw in the very room in which she was confined. For those whose spirits are darkened through trauma or illness, this isn't always easy. But I have seen it happen, through friendship, through helping people feel needed, through listening, through acceptance, and through finding those things that bring joy in life.

Ultimately, a sense of connectedness lies at the heart of resilience.

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This article was first published in Auseinetter Issue 19 – November – No 3/2003, journal of the Australian Network for Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health (Auseinet).



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About the Author

Anne Deveson is a writer, broadcaster and documentary filmmaker with a long involvement in human rights issues. In her latest book, Resilience (Allen & Unwin, 2003) she explores the mysterious quality that enables some individuals and communities to rise above adversity and still find hope and meaning in their lives.

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