Defining ResilienceFrom my own personal study of the psychology of trauma in post-genocidal societies, I have been impressed over and over again by the resilience that people demonstrate. The woman in the photo is from Nyamata, Rwanda. This little town saw the slaughter of roughly 10.000 Tutsis in the Catholic church which used to be the center of the community. Bethea has moved on from that difficult time and demonstrates a passion for working with young people. Instead of giving into despair, she lives in the present, working for a better future.

I have met people like her everywhere - from Kosovo to Sarajevo; from Kigali to Cambodia. People whose lives should be a psychological disaster, who appear to have a healthier, more positive outlook on life than most people living in either New York or Prague. Many go on to play an integral role in the rebuilding of communities - taking a leadership role as a healer, conciliator or keeper of the memories. What is their "secret?"

Resilience is defined as an individual's tendency to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual's "bouncing back" to a previous state of normal functioning, or simply not showing negative effects. This first activity is simply a way to get students to think about the concept and develop some hypotheses about what factors may play a role in resilience.

The Task

The following video clips each look at the topic of resilience. They cover a number of different areas of life - from war to chronic disease. Watch each of these videos and try to decide what factors may have played a role in the way that the individual coped/copes with the crisis in his/her life. Is this a situational or a dispositional factor?

Is the definition of resilience adequate? What should we add to make the definition better reflect what we see in these videos?

Video 1: Living with cancer

Video 2: Surviving solitary confinement as a POW in Vietnam

Video 3: The CorStone Program - teaching young girls to overcome poverty

Video 4: Art as resistance - a Holocaust survivor

Video 5: Megan McElheran on PTSD and recovery