We鈥檙e 11 months into the COVID pandemic. Life has been massively disrupted by illness, loss, economic upheaval, shuttered schools and more.
So how are we doing?
鈥淧retty well,鈥� says 精东影业鈥檚 George Bonanno, Professor of Clinical Psychology, leading resilience expert and head of TC鈥檚 Loss, Trauma and Emotion Lab, who is featured prominently in an article in the British daily The Guardian titled 鈥�.鈥�
George Bonanno, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Founding Director of TC's Resilience Center for Veterans & Families (Photo: TC Archives)
The crisis 鈥渉as already been going on for a long time; we鈥檝e been adapting,鈥� Bonanno says 鈥� an assessment consistent with his prior groundbreaking research showing that about two-thirds of people generally cope well with adverse events. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 mean that people breeze through, but for most of us, it is within our ability to endure.鈥�
But that picture could worsen as the pandemic drags on, warns Bonnano, who is Founding Director of TC鈥檚 Resilience Center for Veterans & Families. People cope well with isolated adverse events or even disasters, but sustained stress over a period of time 鈥渨ears us out,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd our capacity to adapt begins to break down.鈥�
Sustained stress over a period of time 鈥渨ears us out,鈥� Bonanno says, 鈥渁nd our capacity to adapt begins to break down.鈥�
Rather than focusing on 鈥渞esilience,鈥� a term that has become overused and often misapplied, Bonanno, who is writing a book called The End of Trauma, prefers to think about 鈥渇lexibility.鈥� The goal, he suggests, should be 鈥渢eaching people how to actively deal with stressors, so they can take advantage of whatever resources, whatever traits, whatever strengths they have. If they鈥檙e flexible, they can learn how to use those in a way that fits the particular situation. The flexibility idea is that you figure out what鈥檚 the best thing to do right here in this moment.鈥�
The flexibility idea is that you figure out what鈥檚 the best thing to do right here in this moment.
鈥擥eorge Bonanno, Professor of Clinical Psychology
The good news, he adds, is that 鈥渨e鈥檙e pretty good at adapting and often we do it without even knowing we鈥檙e doing it. We learn some aspects as small children 鈥� for instance, a parent or teacher will tell us how we鈥檙e expected to behave in a certain situation鈥� 鈥� and over time we hone our skills at what Bonanno calls 鈥渃ontext sensitivity.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 reading the context, reading what鈥檚 happening and decoding it so you know what you need to do.鈥� When a flexible response works well, he says, 鈥渢he outcome is resilience.鈥�