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.
FAQs
What does it mean to be resilient?
Resilience refers to effectively coping with, adapting to, recovering or even thriving amidst challenging circumstances. It involves "bouncing back" mentally from hardships by utilizing your internal capabilities and external resources.
How does resiliency promote resilience?
Resiliency comes from the personal qualities and protective factors like optimism, purpose, self-efficacy, flexibility, connections and self-care that strengthen your capacity building resilience when faced with adversity.
Can someone improve their resilience?
Yes, since resiliency that fuels resilience involves skills as well as innate traits. Learning techniques for stress adaptation, cognitive restructuring, and seeking social/spiritual support can help cultivate resilience over time.
Why are resilience and resiliency beneficial?
Resilience and underlying resiliency facilitate better emotional regulation when undergoing stress or trauma, preventing issues like anxiety and depression while enabling relationships and success.
Which resiliency traits contribute most to resilience?
Key resiliency factors include optimism/hope, self-efficacy, flexibility, self-care and deriving meaning, which strengthen resilience. Social and coping skills also enable adapting effectively during adversity.
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.
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