::::::::::::: Mind and Body :::::::::::::
The Secrets of Resilient People Everyone goes through tough
times. Some people just navigate them better By BE TH HOWARD
“We cried for two solid months.” That’s how Deborah Robinson describes the painful period in 2002 when her husband,
Jim, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Just
57 at the time, Jim was soon unable to work or drive, and Deborah became his primary caregiver, while continuing to work
for the Disney Corporation in Orlando. Yet she survived the
inevitable progression of Jim’s disease, and his death in 2007,
by reframing the situation in the most positive terms possible.
“I decided that we would rise above
it, and it would be our finest hour,”
says Deborah, 54. She signed up for
an Alzheimer’s education program,
joined a support group of partners of
Alzheimer’s patients, and asked for
help from friends and family mem-
bers. “It was a time to focus on the
limited number of years we had left
and make the best of them,” she says.
Robinson could be the poster child
for resilience, the ability to rebound
quickly from a crisis or trauma. Highly
resilient people don’t fall apart—at
least not for
long. They call
on their inner
strength and re-
cruit outside re-
sources to keep
moving forward.
And they tweak
their future ex-
pectations to fit
their new real-
ity, be it the loss
of a loved one,
a life-changing
diagnosis, or a
devastating fi-
nancial blow. “Resilient people are
like trees bending in the wind,” says
Steven M. Southwick, M.D., professor
of psychiatry at Yale University School
of Medicine. “They bounce back.”
Resiliency has become a hot re-
search topic in the wake of such
disasters as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina,
and the current economic downturn.
While there’s still much to learn,
scientists agree that resilience var-
ies from person to person and has a
genetic component—recent studies
show that certain genes may protect
you against the emotional back draft
of trauma. “Some people are naturally
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ERIC PALMA
“Resilient
people
are like
trees
bending in
the wind.
They
bounce
back.”
