What is Resilience?
Open accessAbstract
Objective: While everyone—including front-line clinicians—should strive to prevent the maltreatment and other severe stresses experienced by many children and adults in everyday life, psychiatrists and other health professionals also need to consider how best to support, throughout the lifespan, those people affected by severe adversity. The first step in achieving this is a clear understanding of the definitions and concepts in the rapidly growing study of resilience. Our paper reviews the definitions of resilience and the range of factors understood as contributing to it, and considers some of the implications for clinical care and public health. Method: This narrative review took a major Canadian report published in 2006 as its starting point. The databases, MEDLINE and PsycINFO, were searched for new relevant citations from 2006 up to July 2010 to identify key papers considering the definitions of resilience and related concepts. Results: Definitions have evolved over time but fundamentally resilience is understood as referring to positive adaptation, or the ability to maintain or regain mental health, despite experiencing adversity. The personal, biological, and environmental or systemic sources of resilience and their interaction are considered. An interactive model of resilience illustrates the factors that enhance or reduce homeostasis or resilience. Conclusions: The 2 key concepts for clinical and public health work are: the dynamic nature of resilience throughout the lifespan; and the interaction of resilience in different ways with major domains of life function, including intimate relationships and attachments.
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In most cases, depression is preceded by childhood symptoms or disorders, including oppositional-defiant disorder, ADHD, and anxiety disorders.
“In most cases, depression is preceded by childhood symptoms or disorders, including oppositional-defiant disorder, ADHD, and anxiety disorders. 256”
From Time for united action on depression: a Lancet–World Psychiatric Association Commission (2022) · cites this paper as [256]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Herrman, H., Stewart, D. E., Diaz-Granados, N., Berger, E. L., Jackson, B., & Yuen, T.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- University Health Network (CA)
- McMaster University (CA)
- World Federation for Mental Health (US)
- Public Health Agency of Canada (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Herrman, Helen
- Venue
- The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-05
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 258-265
- ISSN
- 0706-7437 (ISSN-L)
- 1497-0015
- OpenAlex
- W103404623
- Cited by
- 1,338
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 115 · 2025: 159 · 2024: 152 · 2023: 157 · 2022: 176 · 2021: 101 · 2020: 98 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 55 · 2014: 49 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 25
- FWCI
- 5.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Institute of Gender and Health
- Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Keywords
- resilience, resilience definitions, positive adaptation, adversity, mental health, lifespan development, homeostasis, biological factors, environmental factors, intimate relationships, attachment, maltreatment, clinical care
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Mental Disorders, Child, Child Abuse, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Life Change Events, Terminology as Topic, Personality, Physician's Role, Psychopathology, Social Problems, Social Support, Stress, Psychological, Behavioral Research, Biomedical Research, Resilience, Psychological
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