Resilience

What is meant by resilience?

According to the American Psychological Association, resilience is: “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adaptation to external and internal demands.”

Recently, the concept of resilience, borrowed from the physics of materials, has been criticized in its psychological application, since it implies a return to the state prior to trauma. Humans who overcome adversity and trauma do not naturally return to their previous bio-psycho-social state, but are instead engaged in an ongoing process, closer to the concept of “normalization,” understood in Third Millennium Pedagogy as a “target model.” From this perspective, resilience is a response to adversity that provides the opportunity to understand one’s potential while facing high levels of stressWhat is stress? From a clinical perspective, stress is a phy... More. Furthermore, resilience is not a static trait of the individual but a dynamic and continuously evolving factor, useful for envisioning a desired future.

Resilience can be conceived as a competence in a mental process that changes over time in relation to experience, life events, and evolving abilities, meaning a skill that can be taught and trained, for example through the 10 Keys of Resilience, developed by the psychopedagogical team of the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation.

The Third Millennium Pedagogy perspective: Spherical Resilience

Since resilience is a competence involving the wholeness of the individual, it concerns all dimensions of the human being:

• instinctive: resilience typically seen in childhood, when mental processes are characterized by natural egocentrism as an expression of the growth phase;
• affective: resilience resulting from emotional, value-based, and social maturation;
• cognitive: resilience enabled by the capacity to utilize fully developed abstract thinking skills.

Spherical Resilience occurs when all components are integrated plastically within the framework of the experience components identified in the Spherical Model of Consciousness: Time, Emotion, and Self-Determination. The construct of Spherical Resilience, developed by Patrizio Paoletti, refers to the resilient characteristics of the sphere as a physical object, defined by its ability to redistribute forces and maintain its constitutive balance even under significant pressures. Spherical Resilience is expressed in individuals where the relationship between the axes of Time, Emotion, and Self-Determination and the dimensions of the Self considered in the Spherical Model of Consciousness are in balance.

Components of resilience

1. Emotional Flexibility
   • Ability to manage intense emotions
   • Skill in adapting to emotional changes
   • Effective stress regulation
2. Constructive Thinking
   • Ability to see difficulties as challenges
   • Problem-solving attitude
   • Realistic optimism
   • Acceptance of change
3. Social Support
   • Network of meaningful relationships
   • Ability to ask for and accept help
   • Sense of belonging to the community

Protective factors

Resilience contributes to the following aspects of life:

• Solid self-esteemThe term self-esteem literally refers to the evaluation of o... More
• Sense of self-efficacy
• Planning ability
• Good communication skills
• Effective coping strategies
• Sense of meaning and purpose in life
• Prevention of psychological disorders
• Better stress management
• Greater adaptability to change
• Faster recovery from trauma and difficulties
• Improved overall quality of life

Manifestations of resilience

Psychological resilience is manifested through:

• Rapid recovery after stressful events
• LearningIl termine apprendimento - con i sinonimi imparare, assimila... More from difficult experiences
• Positive adaptation to change
• Maintaining balance under stress
• Post-traumatic growth

How to develop and enhance resilience

Resilience can be developed through:

1. Individual Strategies
   • Cultivate positive relationships
   • Practice self-awarenessIl termine autoconsapevolezza si riferisce primariamente all... More
   • Develop realistic goals
   • Maintain an optimistic perspective
   • Take care of oneself
2. Professional Interventions
   • Cognitive-behavioral therapy
   • Mindfulness training
   • Support groups
   • Psychological coaching

The 10 Keys of Resilience

Experts at the RINED research institute of the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation have developed a decalogue of 10 Keys of Resilience, focusing on three fundamental dimensions of our being, corresponding to our brain structure:

• Physical and motor dimension, whose functions derive from the instinctive-motor, imitative brain;
• Emotional-relational dimension, managed by the limbic brain;
• Rational dimension, managed by the cortical brain, which also involves coordination of all previous functions. This most recent part of our brain is the seat of intentionality, choice, and future planning, enabling coordination of the various functions in pursuit of a goal.

Discover the 10 Keys to train resilience in daily life.