Resiliency and Kung Fu Panda

 

Although the concept for the word resiliency implies a fit between two functions, the theory that attempts to explain this construct has proven to be more difficult because of confounding issues regarding measurement. The two functions occur when there are adverse situations to overcome.

 

It is believed that resiliency does not occur if a person has not had the opportunity to develop strategies for effectively dealing with adversity. The adversity can be as benign as learning how to get good grades, or as threatening as witnessing war from the battle fields. Tusaie and Dyer (2004) agree with this appraisal. They state “definitions that focus on aggregating various domains are likely to be weakly correlated with outcomes. Domain specificity is more useful in research and practice applications than is a global definition of resilience” (Tusaie & Dyer, p. 3).

 

Garmezy (1993) gives credit to Jeanne and Jack Black for pioneering ego-control and ego-resiliency in their dissertation proposals as domain specific constructs synonymous with the word RESILIENCE. The two functions of resilience as stated by Garmezy include:

 

 

(a) a growing appreciation of a latent construct that can be termed adaptability and (b) an awareness of the omnipresent qualities of various types of competencies that appear to serve as protective factors despite the presence of risk reflected in deviant families, distorted rearing practices, family poverty, and the stress of disadvantaged ecologies. (p. 378 )

 

The word adaptability is not a new concept in the field of psychology. The most prolific theorist to illustrate the concept of adaptability was developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget believed that adaptation was a process of assimilation and accommodation. These terms were coined to complement and not compete against the progression of developmental adaptation. How one manages to learn resilience is a matter of assimilating experiential trajectories and accommodating protective factors to ones life.

 

Learning Resilience

 

     The literature on resilience demonstrates that adaptation is either internal equilibration through ego-control or external adjustment through “emotional stability, coping, competence, self-efficacy, hardiness, self-regulation”. External adjustments are difficult to learn when protective factors are absent. I repeat “external adjustments are difficult to learn when protective factors are absent”.

 

Competencies that serve as protective factors have been instrumental in promoting resiliency with children, adolescents, and abused individuals and their families. Protective factors include humor, dispositional optimism, social resources, coping style, and personal attributes. Hardiness and approach-coping efficacy through emotional processing and emotional expression serve as protective factors as well.  

 

     What I have done in the last couple of months since my son’s return from war is to provide him the psychosocial support as a resource for building his resilience. This brief “hey how are you and do they have you bagging sandbags for those levees so you can build upper body strength” although humorous, is my modality for getting a chuckle out of one service member. My “can you believe I went to see Kung Fu Panda” and his “OMG wasn’t that just the funniest movie” provides an outlet for hardiness that provides a didactic approach about the resiliency of one impossible panda to be the master warrior with a simple and easy to understand analogy. What better way to learn resilient traits than to bring it down to simplistic terms? Surely, I can go philosophical and discuss Piaget and assimilation and accommodation. But would it be as memorable as a panda who overcame the impossible because he believed. If you believe, you can also be resilient. OK, it’s a bit more challenging than “if you believe” but we are limited on words in a blog.

 

    

     If anyone is interested in a list of references to the information provided above, please send a request via the blog (although there are a few, I took about 20 off for easier reading). In addition, I would be interested to know how you have been resilient in your pursuit of what makes you happy and how you became resilient. Was it your church, friends, family members, or something else? I am always utterly impressed with feedback when I ask this question. If you feel that you are not resilient then let me know why as well. The responses to that question are also interesting.

 

Cheers,

 

Dr. Judy