We live in a world where tragic headlines cover the front page of every newspaper and early morning news segments are filled with stories of violence and hate. We live in a world of constant technological and scientific advancements that slowly pace ahead of us, where good is not good enough and perfection seems to be only temporary as we struggle to create more, do more, and be more. We live in a world where poverty and hunger seems to be the new normal, with more and more people every day careworn, unable to fulfill their basics needs of survival.
It should not be surprising then, to say that we live in a world full of stress.
Fortunately, we know that as humans, we have an innate psychological response to stress, helping us to survive and cope with the struggles that life hands us. However, while some people are able to adapt to particular stressors, others are unable. So, what makes one person more resilient to stress than another? Recent neuroscience research has pointed to brain.
Stress and Resilience Defined
According to Medscape Psychiatry, stress can be defined as the consequence of a physical, chemical, or emotional stressor that requires us to either adapt or suffer physical or mental strain or tension. Resilience then, is the quality that prevents specific individuals who are at risk for maladaptation and psychopathology from being affected by these problems.
An individual’s vulnerability to stress and capacity for resilience is complex, reflecting a variety of factors including the biological, genetic, and environmental risk/resilience factors.
Trauma and PTSD
Recent studies have used imaging techniques to peer inside the brains of trauma victims who experience PTSD, and those who have experienced trauma but not develop PTSD. These studies report that in people with PTSD, the hippocampus, a brain region important for memory, and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a part of the prefrontal cortex that is involved in reasoning and decision-making, are sensitive to stress shrink.
On the other hand, people who have experienced trauma but do not develop PTSD, show more activity in the prefrontal cortex, and a stronger connection between the ACC and hippocampus. This has lead research to believe that resilience may be dependent on the communication between the reasoning circuitry in the cortex and the emotional circuitry in the limbic system.
(For more information on these studies, click here.)
Coping Mechanisms
Neuroimaging studies have also looked specifically at the coping mechanisms individuals use when subject to stress and how they relate to the brain. Research on this topic has found that people with more neuroplasticity and neuroflexibility in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in emotional regulation, were less likely to use negative coping strategies and respond to stress in emotionally destructive waves (e.g. binge drinking and overeating). The results suggest that this specific area in the brain is involved in wresting back control during times of stress – a key aspect of resilience.
Teaching Resilience
While efforts are being made to develop novel drugs for psychiatric illnesses such as anxiety, PTSD, and depression, in the meantime, it might be helpful to think about how we foster resilience in our youth in hopes of preventing future adverse reactions to increased stress or trauma.
The Resilient Brain
