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The concept of resilience essay
Strengths and limitations of resilience theory
Strengths and limitations of resilience theory
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As explored in my previous reflection, I will continue to follow Craig Gilner’s journey in It’s Kind of a Funny Story as it relates to adolescence and resilience. With adolescence being a time of transition and adjustment, resilience is very important for one’s mental health and wellbeing. The term resilience refers to one’s ability to healthily cope with challenges. One’s gender identity may influence the strategies one ultimately adopts, or is expected to adopt, through externalization or internalization. Despite it being easy to assume that one is better than the other, both have the potential of promoting and denying growth. To externalize or internalize a problem means to direct the problem inward or outward, respectively. For instance, in It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Noelle, Bobby and Aaron all choose to …show more content…
I had not seen it as much of an issue until first year when it was impacting my relationships, work and school. I began taking medication, went to counselling and began making self-care a priority. For so long, I was letting the thoughts and emotions within myself control my life and despite my way of coping being in line with my gender expectation, I certainly struggled with the general stigma associated with mental illness. The fact the stress and sadness are common experiences for all humans made it difficult for me to understand that I indeed had a disorder and that what I was experiencing was not normal. It was also very hard for me to reach out because everyone thought I was okay. People did not always believe me nor did they think that what I was feeling was an actual problem. I cannot imagine what it would have been like had I challenged the gender norms and let’s say, for example, acted more impulsively or engaged in risk taking behaviors. I would not be surprised if I were to encounter comparable unpleasant
The stigma and negative associations that go with mental illness have been around as long as mental illness itself has been recognized. As society has advanced, little changes have been made to the deep-rooted ideas that go along with psychological disorders. It is clearly seen throughout history that people with mental illness are discriminated against, cast out of society, and deemed “damaged”. They are unable to escape the stigma that goes along with their illness, and are often left to defend themselves in a world that is not accepting of differences in people. Society needs to realize what it is doing, and how it is affecting these people who are affected with mental illness. If we continue to not help them, and to foster their illness, it will only get worse.
We are introduced to adolescence in the 5th stage of development. Adolescence begins for boys around the age of 14 and continues up until the age of 21 years of age. At this stage of development, there are many changes that occur emotionally, physically, sexually and spiritually (McGoldrick, Carter, & Garcia Preto, 2011). At this time, adolescent kids are going through changes in their body. They are dealing with coming into their own sexuality. Skills pertaining to social skills and social relationships are being developed through experience. Adolescents are also increasing their skills of physical and mental coordination, such as learning about the world and working on their own coordination. Adolescence is also characterized by learning their own identity and where they fit in the world, as well as learning their relationship with peers and those around them. Spiritual identity is also developed along with a deeper understanding of life. Independence is something that is also weighing on the mind of an adolescent. Overall changes in the family structure can also occur when a child of this age reaches this
Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory is comprised of eight developmental stages ranging throughout the lifespan from infancy to adulthood (Boyd, 2015). However, Erikson puts significant emphasis on the adolescent stage, feeling it is a crucial period for developing an individual’s identity (McLeod, 2013). Erikson maintains that the task of adolescence is to resolve this identity crisis (Rageliene, 2016). Erikson’s theory is hierarchical, meaning that later stages are based on the outcomes of earlier stages, therefor it is rather complex (Markstrom, 1998). During each of these stages, an
The life course and systems perspective provides building blocks for understanding positive development during middle childhood. As parents and social workers, we must recognize that resilience is seldom an instinctive characteristic; rather, it is a process that is facilitated by influences within the child’s surrounding. Research suggest that high-risk behaviors among children increases when children perceives declining family involvement and community supports. Therefore, the primary goal of parents and professionals is to dedicate to the child’s well-being positive internal and external supports that promote maximal protective factors, while minimizing risk factors for optimal developmental transitions. Chapter 5 of Elizabeth D. Hutchinson, Dimensions of Human Behavior The Changing Life Course 3rd, 2008.
Richardson, G. E. (2002). The Metatheory of Resilience and Resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(3), 307-321. doi:10.1002/jclp.10020
Mental health illness affects 26.2 % of the United states adults ages 18 and up. That is 1 in 4 people as of 2004 ("The Number"). Mental health illness does affect over a quarter of the United states population to include me as one of the people who suffer from it. This has affected me and changed my life drastically. Aside from the difficulties of having a mental health illness is how people react to me once they find out. This is widely due to mass media creating a stigma for the mental health ill people that most of the general population tend to believe in the United states.
It is evident that not all young people are resilient when it comes to dealing with life's challenges, as it was displayed in the book The Wave' written by Morton Rhue. There were a majority of students who were not resilient with the wave and the challenges that emerged from it, such as Amy, Robert and David. The student that was surprisingly resilient was Laurie, who was also the main character of the story. Laurie was mentally and also physically strong at dealing with the consequences that upshot from the wave Such as the isolation from the entire school and her best friend, the break-up with her boyfriend and the discrimination and violence of being and as being an outsider'.
Wassell, D. B. & Iain, S. C. (2002). Adolescence : Assessing and Promoting Resilience in Vulnerable Children. Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers .
For a very long time, mental health was a disease people would not dare speak about. The stigma associated with mental health meant that it was viewed as a curse or simply poor upbringing. Crazy, right? (Pardon the pun). Although it’s not seen as a curse by us in this generation any more, many people with mental health issues still have to face ignorance, prejudice and discrimination from our society just because of their lack of understanding or reluctance to try and understand. Be that as it may, these attitudes directly impact upon how and if people choose to seek help, making the negative and ignorant opinions and attitudes of others potentially dangerous to many individuals and the people around them.
Why is there a cloud of judgment and misunderstanding still surrounding the subject? People with a mental disorder or with a history of mental health issues are continually ostracized by society. This results in it being more difficult than it already is for the mentally ill to admit their symptoms to others and to seek treatment. To towards understanding mental illness is to finally lift the stigma, and to finally let sufferers feel safe and accepted within today’s society. There are many ways in which the mentally ill are degraded and shamed.
In example, according to the Euro-Western view, adolescence is characterised by the interaction between the individual’s biological development and the demands requested by the industrial and post-industrial societies. Although adolescence is globally referred to as the period in life that groups individuals from 12 to 18 years, each individual’s development varies within different countries and cultures. According to the Euro-Western world, adolescence is a time in life that is characterised by experimentation, fun as well as personal growth that will later lead the individual to become a full adult. However, not every young individual experiences this positive and fun side of this life stage. In fact, adolescence is characterised by the hormonal changes that occur during puberty, which are argued to influence adolescents’ behaviour. Hall (cited in Drewery and Claiborne, 2010) argued that due to the effects caused by puberty, young individuals often experience tension, conflicts with their parents and peers, as well as critical mood changes. In line with Hall, Freud (cited in Drewery and Claiborne, 2010) argues that adolescence is a life stage in which it is hard to maintain a steady equilibrium. For these reasons, adolescence can still be considered a “problematic” stage in life, yet it is not necessary true that these conflicts are triggered by biological changes (Drewery and Claiborne,
People with a mental illness are often feared and rejected by society. This occurs because of the stigma of mental illness. The stigma of mental illness causes the perception of individuals with mental illnesses to be viewed as being dangerous and insane. They are viewed and treated in a negative way. They are almost seen as being less of a human. The stigma affects the individual with a mental illness in such a cruel way. The individual cannot even seek help without the fear of being stigmatized by their loved ones or the general public. The stigma even leads to some individuals developing self-stigma. This means having a negative perception of one’s self, such as viewing one’s self as being dangerous. The worst part is that the effects of
Successful resolution of this psychosocial stage of development is imperative in order to acquire an enduring incorporated sense of self and to progress to the next stage of development. Society and one’s culture also contributes enormously to the commitment or prevention of dealing with the challenges faced during adolescence. Regardless of what challenges are faced during this stage of development, overcoming it is a fundamental necessity in order to progress into a strong-willed and stable individual in
"Resilience-or whether students respond positively to challenges-is crucial for success in school and in life" (Yeager & Dweck, 2012, p. 302). Without resilience, one would stagnate as a result of any stressful event. Being resilient means being able to use adversity as a mode for change in one's life (Yeager & Dweck, 2012). Changing one's thinking from one of an entity theory to incremental is possible and can be learned if the proper strategies are in place (Yeager & Dweck, 2012). It therefore, seems that it is the responsibility of adults to teach children how to overcome challenges and become resilient. An important takeaway is that facing adversity and accepting mistakes as a way to grow is a major component of neuroplasticity, which enables
Internally caused behaviors are those that are believed to be under the personal control of the individual. Externally caused behavior is seen as resulting from outside causes; that is, the person is seen as having been forced into the behavior by the situation.