Leo Sher, M.D.

The interesting and important article, “The science of resilience: implications for the prevention and treatment of depression” has recently been published in “Science.”  The article is authored by Steven M. Southwick, M.D., Glenn H. Greenberg Professor of Psychiatry and Professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University School of Medicine, and Dennis S. Charney, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, and Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The authors discuss various aspects of resilience to stress and an individual’s response to stress and trauma. They review research data on genetic, developmental, neurobiological, and psychosocial factors that may affect resilience to stress. The authors wisely note that “Psychosocial factors that have been associated with resilience include positive emotion and optimism, loving caretakers and sturdy role models, a history of mastering challenges, cognitive flexibility including the ability to cognitively reframe adversity in a more positive light, the ability to regulate emotions, high coping self-efficacy, strong social support, disciplined focus on skill development, altruism, commitment to a valued cause or purpose, capacity to extract meaning from adverse situations, support from religion and spirituality, attention to health and good cardiovascular fitness, and the capacity to rapidly recover from stress” and that “Having confidence in one’s capacity to deal with stress may increase a sense of control, shift a perceived threat into a perceived challenge, foster active problem-oriented coping, increase motivation and perseverance, modify emotional and neurobiological responses to stressors, and buffer against stress-related psychological disorders such as depression.” The authors also note that the study of resilience and its neurobiological basis is a relatively new area of scientific investigation.

The abstract of this remarkable article is below:

Southwick SM, Charney DS. The science of resilience: implications for the prevention and treatment of depression. Science 2012; 338(6103):79-82.
Abstract
Human responses to stress and trauma vary widely. Some people develop trauma-related psychological disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression; others develop mild to moderate psychological symptoms that resolve rapidly; still others report no new psychological symptoms in response to traumatic stress. Individual variability in how animals and humans respond to stress and trauma depends on numerous genetic, developmental, cognitive, psychological, and neurobiological risk and protective factors.