The resilient brain

Increasing resilience during politically violent times

Increasing resilience during politically violent times

Resilience, or the capacity to recover quickly from difficult situations is not a trait that is unique only to some. In fact, resilience—defined by Professor of Developmental Psychopathology Michael Rutter as “lower vulnerability to experiences of environmental risk, and the ability to overcome adversity and stress or to achieve a relatively good outcome despite risk experiences”—includes thoughts and behaviors that can be learned and developed. Put simply, at the physical level of the brain, resilience is a process associated with neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections—and a response to stress. This means that resilience is a trait that can be fostered through certain behaviors.

THE RESILIENT BRAIN

The building blocks of a resilient brain can be found with tools of neuroscience. In particular, the development of the resilient brain is closely tied to positive individual traits, such as positive coping mechanisms, high self-esteem, and optimism, as well as the emergence of intact social networks. The brain relies on different strategies to operate more efficiently in the face of adversity. What might additionally underpin resilience is a range of sensitive reactivity and adaptability within certain brain regions. Specifically, evidence suggests that the prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatal are larger in resilient individuals. The former is related to various complex behaviors such as planning; the latter to personality development, playing a role in mood, addiction, and learning. Other factors that underpin resilience include the brain’s sensitive reactivity in reward-related regions, and the capacity to modulate the amygdala—a key area for emotion regulation. Lastly, overlapping brain circuits are also affected by “happy” hormones—serotonin and dopamine—and stress-regulatory genetic variations that interact with the environment to predict social behavior and psychopathology.

In studying resilience, however, social and environmental factors also play a key role. In a November 2019 briefing paper, the British Psychological Society noted: “Policies need to consider not just resilient people but also resilient places and resilient communities.” The resilient brain can be examined through a social lens, with impacts on individual and community resilience.

In an expert review published in 2019, neuroscientist Nathalie E. Holz and colleagues synthesized the results of 121 studies on resilience. Their findings noted that social risk and resilience factors include genetic makeup, social environment, and personal characteristics. These factors, taken together, shape specific neural components that may underlie acute stress reactivity, adaptation, and active coping. As such, resilience