Building Resilience

World Mental Health Day has just passed at the weekend. As part of this day, the American Psychological Association published a resource in the World Mental Health Day publication freely available here. They focused on 10 ways of building resilience and the article is written in a fairly relaxed and accessible style. The emphasis is on reinforcing health and fits in with the ‘positive psychology’ paradigm. In this article the author(s) emphasise the importance of making social connections (this is explored further in other articles within the document).  Hope, perspective, moving towards goals and taking actions are amongst the other approaches discussed and these approaches have gained widespread dissemination through the above. What I found interesting was that these recommendations are very broad, sufficiently so to reach a wider audience. Goals and taking decisive action are two examples although they are undoubtedly related to purpose (and meaning) which in turn is associated with evidence of many health benefits. ‘Making connections’ is more specific with an emphasis on good relationships. The material here while initially simple has many subtle nuances on further reflection and the article presents the reader with a useful practical tool.

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