What is Resilience

Until two decades ago, it was common to think about resilience as the ability to bounce back from adversity (Martin, 2002). Recent studies in the neurobiology of emotions challenged this definition (Begley & Davidson, 2012). The following discoveries have led to a new definition of resilience.

Neuroplasticity

It is recognised today that the brain can change its functionality and continuously adapt to new sensory input and learning. Several studies have demonstrated the brain capacity to learn and change. The most famous of them is a study where healthy individuals were blindfolded for five weeks. It was found that brain regions that are assigned to process image sensory input started to process sound and touch sensory input (Begley & Davidson, 2012). This study proved that the brain is able to devote previously assigned brain structure to processing new sensory input. Other studies have shown functional brain region enlargement after focused training. These studies have shown that the brain regions (the amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens and more) can change potential functionality and improve performance (reducing or increasing activations.

Emotion Styles

Studies by Davidson (2012) have mapped certain brain regions to emotional styles by measuring different activations of brain regions and mapping them to people's behaviours.

The following emotion styles have been identified:

The Resilience Style

On a day-to-day experiential level, this refers to the capacity to manage setbacks or muster the ability to soldier on instead of surrender. People high on this dimension are fast to recover, and those low on this emotional style are easily crippled by adversity (Brain regions involved are the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, amygdala, anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC), insula and the hippocampus).

The Outlook Style

This style refers to the capacity to maintain high levels of energy and engagement when things are not going smoothly; the capacity to remain positive (high outlook style) or become cynical/pessimistic (low outlook style) when things are not going all that well (Brain regions involved are the prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, amygdala and the hippocampus).

The Social Intuition Style

This style refers to the capacity to effectively and accurately "read" people's body language, emotional tone and needs (high social intuition) or the inability to be attuned to the social environment (low intuition style). The brain regions involved are the amygdala, fusiform Gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and the insula.

The Self-Awareness Style

This style refers to the ability to be attuned to the inner messages of the system (emotional and physiological). It refers to having insight into understanding palpitations, excessive sweating, the "knot" in the stomach, and feelings of jealousy or threat (Brain regions involved are the insula, medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and the temporoparietal junction).

The Sensitivity to Context Style

Sensitivity to context refers to the ability to discriminate between various social contexts. Sharing jokes with a few close friends and saying something funny in front of an academic audience are different contexts that require different styles. This style reflects understanding the social "norm"—being "tuned in" (high sensitivity to context style) or "tuned out" (low sensitivity to context style). The brain regions involved are the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, parahippocampal cortex, and the temporal lobes.

The Attention Style

The final emotional style relates to the ability to screen out emotional distractions and stay focused. This ability enhances the capacity to stay "in the moment" rather than being distracted by past events (which often leads to the experience of failure and depression) or future risks that may happen (which often leads to feelings of anxiety). A high attention style results in increased energy and effective management of the challenges of life, while a low attention style increases the risk of pathology (Brain regions involved are the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, intraparietal sulcus, anterior cingulate cortex, thalamus, superior colliculus, basal ganglia, default mode network, and the ventral attention network).

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The new definition of resilience

The identification of emotional styles and the brain regions that are involved in these emotional styles and findings in neuroplasticity have led to the development of a new resilience concept and framework that identifies resilience as more than just the ability to bounce back from adversity. The ability to bounce back is one dimension of resilience, an ability that has already been learned. However, neuroplasticity of the brain and recent findings in emotional styles allowed scientists to train people, increase and/or reduce certain brain activities and hence improve their resilience (Begley & Davidson, 2012).

The studies of Davidson have led scientists to come up with new resilience measurements and definitions. Today, resilience is considered to be the ability to advance despite adversity (Rossouw et al., 2017). This new concept encapsulates the idea that the brain can be trained to prepare for challenges and adversity and that people who plan ahead and have life purpose and goals are better prepared to handle life challenges (Rossouw et al., 2017). This new concept of resilience enables people to train themselves in advance and increase their resilience. The new resilience concept and assessment and the ability to train and improve people’s resilience have been tested rigorously with promising results of up to 25% improvement in people's resilience with proper neuro-brain cognitive training.

The new Resilience dimensions

The six emotional styles have been mapped by Rossouw et al. (2017) to six resilience dimensions: Vision, composure, reasoning, tenacity, collaboration and health.

Vision

Vision is what drives us. It is our personal sense of purpose and direction in life. This also includes our vision for what we aspire to be like as individuals, along with a sense of confidence that we can achieve the bold goals that we set for ourselves. Flowing from this is a sense of self-worth and personal efficacy, along with our own values and ability to be committed and decisive. These provide a guiding light to help us stay on the right path in the long term. This is particularly important during difficult times, as a clear vision and goals will help individuals identify opportunities, determine the right actions and bounce back to be stronger than before. This dimension measures goal clarity, goal orientation, sense of control, and self-worth.

Composure

Composure is how effectively we can regulate our emotions during challenging or stressful situations. At these times, we need to have enough self-awareness to notice how we respond and apply techniques to keep us in a constructive mindset. Also critical is our view of stress and our ability to manage acute and everyday stress. Maintaining our composure during tough situations helps us identify opportunities more effectively to keep working towards goals and stay focused on what is important. This dimension measures emotion regulation, patience and management of adverse environments.

Reasoning

Reasoning plays a major role in our confidence in our ability to solve unexpected problems and adapt to sudden change. This includes our ability to be resourceful, think critically, identify opportunities, and take an action-oriented approach to best working towards our own and shared goals. This also extends into proactively identifying opportunities to instigate change and innovate to create an environment where we can thrive together with others. Here, the ability to be creative in a stressful situation can be an influential and highly regarded personal attribute. This dimension measures problem-solving abilities, resourcefulness, and readiness for change.

Tenacity

Tenacity is about the ability to persevere through difficulty and quickly get back on track. Whether it is an illness or a setback at work, this indicates a measure of hardiness that helps us to keep going, keep trying and bounce back quickly. During these situations, it is important to have a realistic sense of the limits of control and maintain accurate expectations of what we can achieve. This helps us not to expect too much of ourselves but still know ourselves well enough to recognise the strength to push forward and endure. This dimension measures the ability to bounce back and levels of optimism through adversity.

Collaboration

Collaboration is about the critical need of the human brain to have close and secure connections with others. This includes having support networks with friends, partners, family, colleagues, and even pets, which can have a profound effect. This connection we have with others is not just about our need for support but also our ability to relate to others and be able to support them in turn. Collaboration includes being able to manage the perception of others along with our own perspectives so that we stay in a space where we can effectively work with those around us and have meaningful relationships. This dimension measures support networks, the level of health of interpersonal connections and the management of perceptions.

Health

Health is a foundational domain of resilience. Various studies have shown how much of an impact your physical health can have on your well-being simply because it has such a strong effect on your life experience when everything is not working as it should. Chronic health issues can be the most difficult to deal with as they have an ongoing effect on our lives. We have some control over the lifestyle we choose to lead and how proactively we invest in the health of the body and brain. This dimension measures exercise frequency, adherence to healthy nutrition and sleeping patterns.

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If you want to learn more about your emotional style and resilience score and how you can improve it, please complete the following expression of interest form at Expression of Interest .

References

• Begley, S., & Davidson, R. (2012). The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live-and How You Can Change Them. Hachette UK.
• Martin, G. E.?(2002).?Resilience: The ability to bounce back from adversity.?Auseinetter?14?(1)?3-4.
• Rossouw, J., Rossouw, P., Paynter, C., Ward, A., & Khnana, P. (2017). Predictive 6 factor resilience scale – Domains of resilience and their role as enablers of job satisfaction. International Journal of Neuropsychotherapy, 5(1), 25-40. https://doi.org/10.12744/ijnpt.2017.1.0025-0040