stress and disease prevention

Resilience and Appearance

• Resilience perceived through outward appearances can be misleading.

  • Individuals may appear calm while experiencing significant internal stress (e.g., high blood pressure).

  • Adage: "The duck looks calm on the surface but is paddling like hell underneath."

  • This highlights the difference between external appearances and internal realities.

Historical Context of Resilience in Psychology

• The use of resilience in literature often intersects with issues of inequality.

  • Resilience narratives may reinforce existing disparities by acknowledging only those who adapt successfully amidst hardship (e.g., students succeeding academically in food-insecure environments).

Limits of Resilience Models

• Common resilience models overlook critical factors such as social networks, material resources, and support systems.

• Resilience is sometimes misused to excuse systemic stressors and perpetuate inequality.

  • Example: Debates around programs like preschool lunches do not account for students' varying needs and resources.

Disease Resilience

• Refers to individuals showing atypical responses to illness (e.g., varying tolerance to COVID-19).

  • Individual differences complicate resilience discussions; responses to disease can vary widely.

  • Emphasis on acknowledging these variances rather than oversimplifying resilience.

Critique of Positive Psychology

• Positive psychology often promotes resilience as an individual responsibility, overlooking systemic issues.

  • Critics argue it leads to victim blaming, suggesting individuals lack resilience due to personal failings.

  • Positive psychology focuses on only the upbeat aspects of emotional wellbeing, ignoring the significance of negative experiences.

  • Viewed as a trivialization of serious psychological work.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

• Emphasizes accepting the negative experiences rather than ignoring them.

  • Participants acknowledge their challenges and actively choose how to engage with life despite adversity.

  • Example: Individuals with chronic pain assessing whether an activity is worth the discomfort, embracing both joy and pain.

Coping and Resilience Behaviors

• True resilience can be better measured through observable behaviors rather than self-reported feelings.

• Resilience is not a uniform construct and can manifest differently across individuals, making it hard to quantify.

• Some individuals may find resilience actions effortless, while for others, they may be highly challenging.

The Role of Stress in Growth and Behavior

• Resilience requires engagement with stressors and often necessitates acknowledgment of painful emotions.

• Young people's experiences of stress can lead to emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and impaired long-term planning.

Early Life Stressors

• Significant early life stressors (e.g., poverty, abuse) can imbed negative states leading to lifelong emotional challenges.

• Easy access to negative emotional states can lead to risk aversion and avoidance behavior.

Mental Health Disparities

• Individuals from stressful backgrounds may face increased barriers to mental health treatment, reinforcing ongoing cycles of distress.

• There exists a challenging interplay between predisposed negativity due to early life stress and willingness to seek therapy.

Importance of Mindfulness in Therapy

• Mindfulness practices can offer therapeutic benefits and help reduce stress through better awareness of one's emotional and physical state.

• The effectiveness of mindfulness varies by individual and should be recognized as one avenue among many in therapeutic settings.

Conclusion

• The conversation around resilience must encompass a holistic view that includes acknowledging suffering while also seeking positive coping mechanisms.

• The negative aspects of life should not be dismissed or overlooked in favor of a purely positive outlook.