Psychological Resilience
Throughout our lives, we may encounter many things that we do not expect. For example; failing an exam, forgetting what to say during a presentation, the death of a loved one, epidemics or earthquakes... While the impact of each experience may vary from person to person, people's reactions to these events may also differ. This is where psychological resilience comes into play.
Psychological resilience is a concept related to the process of adapting to stressful life events that a person encounters. The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in our country and the world is a good current example as it is a very challenging life experience. Psychological resilience cannot be mentioned in conditions where people do not encounter or experience any difficult situations. Resilience is a protective shield and a system for coping with challenging events for the individual, family, and society at large.
Individuals with high psychological resilience adapt better to stressful life events than other people and are less likely to be adversely affected physically and psychologically. It is normal for both adults and children to feel sad, afraid, anxious, etc. in the face of challenging life events. In other words, experiencing and accepting negative emotions caused by an abnormal life event is a healthy reaction, while ignoring them is unhealthy.
It is important to focus on and develop personal resources for psychological resilience. So what are these resources and what can we do? The following suggestions can be utilized to reduce the negative psychological effects of the challenging life events we face in our lives and the risk of coronavirus on us and to increase our psychological resilience.
Wellbeing / Wellness
It can be defined as a state of well-being in terms of both physical and mental health. In this process, exercising for physical and mental health (Relaxation exercises and Breathing exercises) supports one's well-being and strengthens one's psychological resilience. 'Being in the Moment and Mindfulness exercises' are among the exercises that support one's turning inward, increasing awareness and well-being. At the same time, religious experiences are also effective in the process of building hope and contributing to well-being.
Gratitude Diary is one of the activities that can be tried in this process. In this practice, the person is asked to write down three different things they are grateful for every day. In this way, the person gains awareness of what he/she has and what he/she is grateful for while contributing to his/her well-being/well-being.
Embrace Healthy Thoughts
What we feel, think, and do can be a resource for us, as long as it is functional. It might be useful to start by making a list of what we feel, think, and do in response to the challenges we face. Then, the second step is to examine how useful what we think, feel, and do are in dealing with the problems we face. In this process, it is important for us to write down the pros and cons of what we do, think, and feel in a notebook and to recognize the ones that are dysfunctional and not useful to us. We can focus on how we can increase the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are functional. In this way, we can broaden our perspective with realistic thoughts and alternative explanations and contribute to our well-being and psychological resilience.
Learn More
When we are at risk of an epidemic, the first thing we should do for ourselves and our relatives is to get information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) from the right sources. In this process, considering that not all of the information in the media may be correct, we should listen to the statements of competent people on the subject and take into account what needs to be done to protect against the risk of coronavirus.
Care about Social Support
Social support is a concept related to the relationship with the people around the person (family, friends, spouse children, etc.) and is one of the important sources of psychological resilience. It has a positive effect on both physical and mental health. Instead of moving away from the social environment, strengthening relationships through messaging, video chatting, family meetings at home, small games and activities will further increase the resilience of the person. In this process, receiving mental health support online will also make an important contribution and make you feel that you are not alone.
Embrace Change
Change is part of our lives. Some of our goals and ideals may no longer be attainable, or we may have to try different paths and change some things. In this process, accepting the events we are going through and focusing on what we can do as an alternative can help us. Rather than being stuck negatively, the idea of how to make use of this change can open the doors to solution-oriented thinking. Thanks to this perspective, we can make better use of our resources and take important steps towards finding new alternatives.
References:
Amerikan Psikoloji Derneği: https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience
Karaırmak, Özlem. Psikolojik Sağlamlık, Risk Faktörleri Ve Koruyucu Faktörler. Türk Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Dergisi, [S.l.], v. 3, n. 26, apr. 2016. ISSN 1302-1370.
Ozbay, F., Johnson, D. C., Dimoulas, E., Morgan, C. A. III, Charney, D., & Southwick, S. (2007). Social support and resilience to stress: From neurobiology to clinical practice. Psychiatry, 4(5), 35–40.
Rutter, M., 2013. Annual research review: resilience – clinical implications. Journal of Child Psychiatry, 54, 474–487.
Simoni, P.S. ve Paterson, J.J. (1997) Hardiness, coping and burnout in the nursing workplace. Journal of Professional Nursing, 13, 178– 185.