The resilient brain

IN BRIEF Resilience can be learned and developed.The brain adopts different strategies to cope with stress.There are ways to improve individual resilience during political violence. 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. Resilience is a process associated with neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural