NOVA (on PBS) just published an article, “What makes a Resilient mind?” about what makes a resilient mind. Lots of interesting thoughts here.
One one hand, researchers within the article talk about how resilience is a combination of factors, something that is inherent or inborn, like temperament. Epigenetic’s (described more below) is about whether genes are turned on or off, depending on one’s own environment and behavior. I’ve seen the effects of epigenetics, and believe in this theory, biologically. What we eat, how we behave (i.e., mindfulness), who we interact with, what’s in our environment (toxins, stress), can really impact the expression of certain genes.
The article starts by talking about Amanda Lindhout, who had experienced chronic and severe trauma as a child; she became a successful adult; and then experienced severe acute trauma while working abroad. She says:
“No matter how many times in captivity I suffered abuse, it never got easier, but to survive in there, I had to learn how to crawl out of this dark space in my own mind,” she said. “I began to nurture something inside myself, a tiny seed of compassion inside of me.”
“When it was the very toughest, I could still close my eyes and imagine the life that I had lived and imagine the life that I wanted to go on to have,” she said, “utilizing the power and strength of the mind, which I had had to hone as a child.”
Researchers in the article talk about how one cannot create resilience where there is absolutely none; though, I disagree because I believe everyone has some aspects of resources and resilience within. Sometimes it takes more time to tease out what resources one has within. And once you work with a trauma therapist who can help you discover what those are, or engage in a course of self-study (mindfulness classes, yoga, etc), to enhance those resources, they can help you cope with and process trauma, and change the physiology of your nervous system through mind-body therapy modalities (EMDR, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, meditation & mindfulness techniques, and through co-regulating relationships and activities. For example:
The article talks about: “‘epigenetics,’ which looks at how genes are turned off and on as a result of experience and environment. If childhood adversity can lead to maladaptive epigenetic changes, Suomi says, then social supports may reverse the damage. ”
“Extending this principle to humans, Suomi points out the calming effects of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness training on many trauma survivors.
“‘There’s something inherent in us that makes us resilient,’ he says. ‘We have this marvelous stress response system. We have this incredible equipment that’s similar to what animals have. It’s versatile, it’s flexible, it allows us to cope with a lot of really bad things.’
In part of this article, Dr. George Bonanno at Columbia University’s Teachers College, speaks about how he thinks most people are inherently resilient; and 65% are able to “function well” even after a traumatic event without issue. What is not clear from the writing in the article is whether Bonanno’s subjects were students at Columbia (which would speak to a certain socioeconomic picture; or if one were from a poverty background and then inserted into a middle-to-upper class environment), what their history is. It is also not clear when the traumas happened, and how long he tracked their ability to “function well.”
This doctor’s opinion in article somewhat rigid in its view, for, in my studies on trauma and in my treatment of it with clients, I have seen that many who have experienced severe trauma can “function well” in many parts of their lives, but find that the trauma severely impacts some part of their life at some point–to the point of not functioning. There may be the exception (for instance, Louie Zamperini in the biography “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand). Trauma and the way it continues to surface is like reverberations of a wave. It can easily lay latent until something triggers it, and that is usually when clients come to therapy. Not for every person, though, it is the case for many.
Amanda Lindhout was able to cope in a unique and resourceful way at a very young age. By exiting that world and pursuing a dream, she built her own sense of confidence and competence as a reporter abroad. She could return to this modality of coping under extreme duress as an adult, because she had already done so as as a child who successfully exited a traumatic world. It’s quite amazing what she was able to do. Her continued nightmares, and hyper-arousal and vigilance in her daily current world might seem small to others in comparison to what she went through, but it is a difficulty that is unnecessary.
Bonanno subscribes to the idea of “coping ugly” such as getting drunk or yelling at others as an acceptable way to cope. I strongly and heartily disagree.
To do so is to avoid the experience altogether, to not have a coherent narrative of what you really need at that moment and leaves you alone in the experience of experiencing the trauma in that moment.
My goal is always to help my clients develop that coherent narrative, to use their inherent resources and resilience in that moment to lend them strength, and to radically change the way they relate to experiencing trauma in that moment. My approach is to help my clients experience the present moment for what it is: in body (nervous system), mind (thoughts and feelings), and spirit (sense of being in the world and the meaning we make of it). The present moment–is separate from the trauma that occurred in past and has severely affected the present. It is not the present, not the now.
Check out the article, let me know what you think.