Resilience vs Resiliency: Understanding the Key Differences

Understanding The Difference Between Resilience And Resiliency

The terms "resilience" and "resiliency" are often used interchangeably. However, there are some key differences between these two related concepts. Examining the definitions and characteristics of resilience and resiliency can provide greater clarity into what sets them apart.

Defining Resilience

Resilience refers to the psychological capacity someone has to cope and adapt when facing adversity, trauma, threats, or significant stress. It enables them to "bounce back" emotionally and move forward in a positive way despite hardships or challenges they encounter.

Resilience involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that allow someone to utilize internal strengths or appropriate external resources to mentally withstand or constructively address difficult situations. It can help prevent some negative emotional reactions or long-term psychological disruption that could otherwise occur.

The Characteristics of Resilience

Displaying resilience differs between each person and changes across various situations. However, researchers have identified common personal characteristics that help contribute to an individual's level of resilience:

• Social support and connectedness
• Problem-solving and coping abilities
• Sense of control, efficacy, and agency
• Attachment and emotional regulation skills
• Optimism, hopefulness, and positive outlook
• Capacity to find meaning and purpose

Resilience vs Resiliency Definition

While resilience refers to the process a person uses to withstand and rebound from adversity, resiliency refers more directly to their internal qualities or attributes that enable this psychological resilience process.

So resiliency definition focuses on the personal characteristics and resources that determine someone's capacity for resilience. This includes both the resiliency skills that can be developed over time as well as underlying resilience traits someone innately possesses to various degrees.

Key Components Of Resiliency

Certain cognitive, emotional, and behavioral resiliency factors combine to positively impact people's ability to cope with challenges and avoid negative mental health consequences associated with trauma or prolonged stress. Major elements of personal resiliency include:

Optimism

Maintaining an optimistic, hopeful mindset during difficult times supports resiliency by enabling more positive perspectives on problems and constructive focus towards solutions.

Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy reflects resiliency regarding a person's belief in their own capabilities and capacity to influence events in their life. This promotes agency and motivation for persevering through hardships.

Adaptability

Adjusting emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and circumstances effectively when situations change facilitates resiliency to redirect efforts, manage threats, and find alternatives.

Self-Care

Regular self-care strengthens resiliency by actively managing personal needs, controlling stress, supporting well-being, and having resources to withstand challenges without becoming overwhelmed.

Purpose and Meaning

Connecting to meaningful purposes, value-based goals, spiritual dimensions, or a broader life vision fuels motivation and hope central to fortifying resiliency during adversity.

Cultivating Resiliency

While some resiliency relates to innate personality traits, many protective factors involving attitudes, coping mechanisms, connections, and self-care habits can be strengthened over time through conscious effort and support.

Building Resiliency Through Learning

Expanding knowledge on resilience, practicing stress management techniques, reflecting on personal values, identifying emotional triggers, and learning cognitive restructuring skills can all help cultivate resiliency through a learning process.

Drawing From Role Models

Having positive role models who demonstrate resilience in the face of their own adverse experiences provides inspiration and guidance for enhancing personal resiliency capabilities.

Receiving Social Support

Strong social support networks reinforce resiliency through caring connections that provide encouragement, guidance, empathy, and assistance to help people withstand difficulties they face.

Gaining Life Experience

Developing psychological, emotional, and coping skills gained through gradually overcoming smaller challenges can expand someone's resiliency capacity to tackle more significant adversities.

Why Resilience And Resiliency Matter

Resilience and underlying resiliency factors help determine how people respond to all types of life stressors, traumatic events, or situations requiring substantial, sustained adjustment. More positive responses lead to better outcomes across many important areas.

Emotional Well-Being

Resilience driven by resiliency enables people to regulate distressing emotions to avoid some psychological consequences from adversities like depression or severe anxiety.

Relationships

Adaptive coping and resilience skills prevent relationships from deteriorating due to excessive life stressors negatively impacting engagement and mutual support.

Physical Health

Resiliency traits like optimism, self-efficacy and meaning making lower risks for stress-related physical illness since chronic stress takes less cumulative toll.

Professional Success

Mental agility, positive mindset, creative problem-solving and recovering quickly from setbacks linked to resiliency contribute greatly to achieving career aspirations.

While people cannot avoid adversity, developing resilience and underlying resiliency provides the capability to not just survive but sometimes even thrive when serious hardships or calamities strike.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment regimen.