WHAT IS THE EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE?[MENTAL HEALTH] ARTICLE 1

Article1

Emotional resilience is our individual capacity to cope with adversity in life. The word resilience comes from the Latin resilio, which means’ to bounce back’ or ‘ recoil’ . The term resilience has been in use for decades to describe how individuals respond to stress. In the Toxic Stress , we explored the genetic and environmental factors predisposing some of us to be more resilient to stress.

But it is the addition of the word ‘ emotional’ that has changed our perspective . In the past , it was recognised that some children emerging from severely deprived background or the horrors of war seemed to ‘survive’ such experiences, without significant ongoing emotional or mental health difficulties .

These children were classified as resilient. It was assumed initially that their individually ability to adapt and survive was secondary to their genes or personality. With time, it has become increasingly obvious that how well children , and indeed adults , manage their emotional responses to such adversity is what will determine their resilience.

I will complete in article 2 soon.