Building Psychological Resilience: A Blueprint for Overcoming Adversity

The ability to navigate challenges with agility and strength is known as psychological resilience. This intangible quality relies on an individual's mental processes and behaviours, determining their capacity to withstand or adapt to environmental demands. There is a key difference between resilience and stubbornness, whereby stubbornness is the inability to recognise a need for adaptation. In this article, we will delve into the facets of psychological resilience, exploring protective factors and practical techniques to foster a robust and rebounding mindset.

Understanding Resilience

Psychological resilience manifests in two distinct qualities: robust resilience and rebound resilience. Robust resilience is a pre-emptive, protective quality characterized by an individual maintaining well-being and performance under pressure. On the other hand, rebound resilience is a reactive bounce-back quality, allowing individuals to overcome minor or temporary disruptions to their well-being and performance. Resilience can be thought of as the energy to show up on days that just aren’t flowing, or as a key component of the engine room of our mind that stimulates our behaviours, knowing when to change gear, accelerate or brake.

Protective Factors

Figure 1: Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2016). Mental fortitude training: An evidence-based approach to developing psychological resilience for sustained success. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 7, 135-157.

Sustained success in the face of adversity is closely tied to mental fortitude, comprising a challenge mindset, personal qualities, and a facilitative environment. Personal characteristics, such as enduring personality traits, play a pivotal role in protecting individuals from negative consequences. Additionally, psychological skills, including cognitive and affective tactics, offer a more malleable means of fortification, from goal setting to visualization. It is key to note that our personality is generally stable and fixed, so psychological skills can be used to harness our strengths and control our weaknesses when reaching our desirable outcomes. 

As Alexander den Heijer writes, ‘When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment, not the flower’. Success, the blooming,  is the synergy between these elements to create your best conditions.

The ABCDE Model

Introduced by Seligman and Ellis, the ABCDE model provides a structured approach to building resilience:

• Adversity: Begin by objectively outlining the situation, focusing on facts and actual occurrences.

• Beliefs: Reflect on the thoughts during and after the situation, acknowledging the impact of these beliefs.

• Consequences: Examine the repercussions of these thoughts on emotions and subsequent actions.

• Disputation: Actively dispute beliefs that disrupt life balance, adopting a compassionate, advisory approach.

• Energization (action): Experience a surge of energy, renewed hope, or serenity as a result of effectively challenging problem beliefs.

Three Dimensions of Stress Explanation

Understanding stress involves recognizing three dimensions: permanence, pervasiveness, and personalization. Individuals often unconsciously assume that the causes of bad events are permanent, view problems as universal when something goes wrong, and tend to blame themselves (internalising or externalising).

Overcoming Stress

To overcome stress and enhance resilience, follow the "Stop -> Verbalize -> Park -> Confront -> Replace" approach:

• Stop: Interrupt negative thought patterns.

• Verbalize: Articulate your thoughts and feelings.

• Park: Temporarily set aside overwhelming emotions.

• Confront: Analyze the situation using the ABCDE model, identifying patterns.

• Replace: Dispute and replace negative beliefs, energizing positive actions.

Psychological resilience is a dynamic quality that can be nurtured and strengthened through a combination of personal qualities, psychological skills, and structured frameworks like the ABCDE model. By understanding the dimensions of stress and adopting proactive strategies, individuals can navigate adversity with resilience, emerging stronger and more resourceful.

References and further reading: 

Coutu, D. L. (2002, May). How resilience works. Harvard Business Review, 80, 46-55.

Seligman, M. E. (2011). Building resilience. Harvard business review, 89(4), 100-106.

Fletcher, D. (2019). Psychological resilience and adversarial growth in sport and performance. In E. O. Acevedo (Ed.), The Oxford encyclopedia of sport, exercise, and performance psychology (pp. 731-756). New York City, NY: Oxford University Press.

Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2012). A grounded theory of psychological resilience in Olympic champions. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5, 669-678.

Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2013). Psychological resilience: A review and critique of definitions, concepts and theory. European Psychologist, 18, 12-23.

Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2016). Mental fortitude training: An evidence-based approach to developing psychological resilience for sustained success. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 7, 135-157.

Sarkar, M., & Fletcher, D. (2014). Psychological resilience in sport performers: A narrative review of stressors and protective factors. Journal of Sports Sciences, 32, 1419-1434.