Psychology plays a vital role in helping people overcome challenges or setbacks, as well as adversity. Positive psychology defines resilience as the capacity to overcome challenges. can be defined as the capacity to overcome any challenge life throws at you. Certain people are afflicted by hardship, but they recover stronger and more focused than they were before. We refer to them as resilient.
Resilient individuals overcome obstacles by relying on their strengths, resources, and positive mental capital like optimism, hope, and self-efficacy. Resilience is the ability to overcome a challenge. It is often described as “bouncing back” to a normal state of functioning. Resilience also has a strong correlation with happiness.
Here are a few ways that mental principles and strategies can contribute to a greater resilience:
Cognitive restructuring
Cognitive restructuring is a technique that challenges and changes negative or unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions. It is crucial in helping people bounce back from problems by promoting an adaptive and resilient mindset. Here’s how you can use cognitive restructuring to overcome adversity and build resilience:
- The first step to cognitive restructuring is to become conscious of negative thoughts or beliefs that cause distress or inhibit resilience.
- Gather evidence that contradicts the thought to challenge its accuracy and validity.
- Consider other perspectives, possibilities and explanations, which are more realistic and constructive.
- Reframe negative thoughts to positive or constructive statements.
- Look out for common cognitive distortions and thinking errors that can lead to negative thinking. Replace these distortions with more accurate and balanced perspectives.
Stress Management
The reactions of people to traumatic events are often intense and long-lasting. Stress and symptoms can be reduced by learning good coping techniques and receiving the right care and support. Psychology offers a variety of stress management techniques to help individuals adapt and cope with stressful situations. Here are some healthy ways to cope with stress.
- Take breaks when reading, listening, or viewing news articles, particularly those shared on social media. While it is important to be informed, repeatedly hearing about the horrible experience can be upsetting. Consider limiting your news consumption to just a few articles per day, and avoiding the phone, TV, and computer screens.
- Take care of yourself. Take care of yourself.
- Techniques like mindfulness meditation, deep breathing, and progressive muscular relaxation can reduce stress and improve resilience by promoting emotional control and calmness.
Social Support
While most research on resilience focuses on particular characteristics, social support can be the most significant factor. Researchers haven’t always emphasized this kind of social support as an important factor that contributes to resilience in individuals. It is the ability to bounce back from hardship and move forward in a positive and adaptive way. Instead, they’ve emphasized researching personality traits, often placing the social context in an unimportant position.
Psychology emphasizes the role of social connections in constructing resilience. Strong social connections and relationships serve as buffers against the odds, offering emotional comfort as well as practical support and the feeling of belonging. Establishing and maintaining a strong social network is vital to resilience.
Being in a positive social network is certain to be a successful strategy for life since it can lead to better physical and mental health. So, it’s not surprising that friendships play a significant role in boosting resilience partly because they help us feel less stress when we’re struggling.
Adaptive Coping Strategies
Adaptive coping refers specifically to behavioural and cognitive strategies used to deal with stressful situations and the accompanying emotional suffering. Adaptive coping, as with social resources, functions as a protection factor, reducing the negative effects of stressors in life when they occur, while reducing the risk of stressors recurring. Psychology has identified adaptive coping strategies that allow individuals to successfully face setbacks and challenges. Skills for problem-solving seeking out social support, gaining an answer to adversity and maintaining a sense of humor are some examples of adaptive coping strategies that help to build resilience.
People who utilize active methods of coping, such as problem-solving and information search, are more able to handle life stressors. While the model of stress resistance emphasizes resilience, the strategies used to cope can also have weaknesses. Strategies to avoid coping, like denial or wishful thinking, are typically associated with higher emotional suffering. Additionally, the psychological reactions triggered by coping strategies may indirectly affect physical health.
People are most flexible when their management methods are in line with the demands of the moment. People who can be flexible with their coping strategies are more likely to adapt than those with more rigid or confined ways of coping.
