Summary
The article in question examines the topic of resilience and stress response in humans, and attempt to find an answer to people having to endure traumatic events. The paper opens with a few paragraphs describing the experiences of Dennis Charney, who often took his kids on trips which they disliked in an effort to make them stronger mentally. He emphasizes the importance of negative experiences as a way to mentally strengthen one’s psyche and make dealing with possible trauma less difficult. Research has shown that the way people react to trauma depends entirely on the response of their brain and that they can be trained to process and address trauma in a way that does not affect them. The stresses of daily life, the kinds that people often do no realize can put a toll on the body, which impacts health severely in the long run. By learning how best build up resilience, people can avoid the risk of a heart attack and other stress-related conditions. Reviewing testimonies from WWII survivors and their experience with life, it was found that some children have endured being endangered, hurt, and misplaced better than others. Similar studies have found that children with a tight-knit community and support were in a better condition than those that did not. This experiment has revealed that a variety of external and internal factors contribute to a person’s ability to bounce back from adversity. The article also mentioned that personality types have no bearing on a person’s ability to persevere, meaning that any human can work on building up resistance to trauma. This can be done by regulating one’s response to smaller events, reflection, and receiving support from others. Such techniques as meditation have also been shown to be effective at reducing stress and helping people live through stress.
Thoughts On The Reading
I think that the article is effective in addressing the topic of trauma and resilience, which is both useful and interesting to learn about. The information provided covers both research done into the topic over the years and some insightful speculation into how humans deal with stressors in their lives. The notion that stress response is separate from one’s personality was surprising, and I feel that it is something I can now pay more attention to. In relation to my own experiences, I feel that I have managed to build up a particular trauma response that might not be most effective, and the article has helped me to reflect on the dangers that present and attempt to change my personal approach for the better. I think that the various methods of handling stress and responding to a crisis that was described in the article can be useful in my stride for self-improvement. I found at least two particular things useful and personally applicable in the text. The first of them is that people with a large support network are able to handle stress better. I will attempt to establish stronger and wider connections with other people to have a reliable support system when it is needed. The other aspect I have found to be useful is the benefit of meditation as a way to mitigate stress. Adopting a similar strategy in my daily life seems like a good way of better handling the adversities of life.