Positive Psychology isn’t all about staying cheery and happy. In fact, positive psychology is rooted in trauma research.
Psychologists started wondering why some victims of trauma ended up with severed PTSD and others, who had gone through the exact same experiences, seemed to bounce back more quickly.
This quality, resiliency, is the foundation of the positive psychology field. What creates it? Can it be developed or strengthened?
We’ve been through a lot this past week. We’re still going through it. Boston, background checks, Texas, Watertown. Positive psychology doesn’t deny that sh*t happens. But the research is figuring out how to help us not get destroyed by it.
The magic of the internet has brought us a lot of hope and tips on how to keep this continued trauma from ruining our lives.
Hard-Wired to Bounce Back
Written by a social worker who specializes in resiliency, this is a good summary of the research, with practical suggestions for strengthening characteristics that increase resiliency.
Helping Children Through: Several Links
I imagined what I would do if I was in Watertown this morning, keeping my kids inside…what would I tell them? How do you balance honesty, teaching common sense caution, while not terrifying your children?
Robyn Gobbel, MSW, works with families and children who have been traumatized. Here are her suggestions for helping children cope.
Talking to Children About Disasters: From the American Psychiatric Associatio
Tips for Resilience in the Face of Horror
Fred Rogers Company: At the bottom of this page, there are some good tips for parents. I especially like the one about letting your kids know if you’re donating or providing a service in response to the trauma, and letting them be a part of it.
Coping with Traumatic Stress
I have a background in crisis management, and was trained as a Critical Incident Stress Debriefer. The primary thing was to get people to talk about their experience. We need to talk about it, and be heard. We need to talk about it more than once, usually. Find people to talk to, people who will hear you.
Emotional Recovery After a Disaster
Stephen Joseph, Ph.D., has written a book, “What Doesn’t Kill Us: The New Psychology of Posttraumatic Growth.” He goes over research on people who have become stronger, who have found new meaning after trauma:
Is it trauma or is it a negative attitude towards expression of emotion that causes PTSD?
Collection of links on posttraumatic growth, including some TED talks and interviews.
Staying Hopeful
I remember, after 9/11, reading the famous quote by Fred Rogers: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”
Bottom line: Most people are good and want to help. Most of this world is still beautiful. We have each other. Most of us are trying to raise our children to make this a better world. There is ALWAYS hope. And no hateful people, no bombers, no extremists are going to take that away from us.
(P.S. – I don’t have the original source for the graphic above. If anyone knows where it origina
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Helpful links needed as we strive to move forward. Thank you for collecting them.
very nice post
Dear Colleen,
I appreciate your taking the time to gather the research on resilience and share it with us. This is very helpful. Thanks.
Warmly,
Andrea
Colleen,
Helping others build resilience is one of the most important contributions of psychology. Thanks for sharing this powerful collection.
Warmly,
Ann