The article discusses the misinterpretation of resilience, particularly in stressful situations. Alex feels frustrated after a friend's comment about being more resilient, equating it to unrealistic expectations. The author argues that resilience is often oversimplified and misconstrued as invincibility, when in reality it's about adapting to challenges and growing through them. Resilience involves maintaining and honing skills developed through adversity, rather than merely enduring hardship. The piece highlights the growing trend of viewing resilience as a catch-all solution for mental health, underscoring the need for a deeper understanding of the concept.
Being told to be resilient can be comparable to telling someone in the midst of an anxiety attack to simply calm down, well-intentioned but simplistic and generally unhelpful.
Resilience is a process not an outcome, referring to an extraordinary but ordinary process of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life events.
Gaining strength by enduring adversity is part of resilience; significant psychological growth occurs through response and recovery to adversity.
The misconstrued understanding of resilience is a trend I've observed in my work as a psychologist, now promoted as a mental health magic bullet.
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