The different resiliences
ORGANIZED BY:
University of Sao Paulo
Event Date + Time:
March 17 @ 6:30 pm - March 17 @ 8:00 pm
Event Location:
Virtual
Venue Name:
University of São Paulo
Directions
About This Event
Event Description:
This activity is a round table of three presentations:
This presentation will adress the ups and downs of utilizing psychometric instruments to measure resilience, and the challenges of adapting or creating instruments.
The activity is part of the round table "The different resiliences" promoted by LaNeCOM. The speech will address a personal trajectory, paralleling the history of neuroscience, of how, when investigating vulnerability, disorders and mental illnesses, many researchers have shifted their interest to the study of adaptive and positive processes related to resilience. We will discuss examples of studies and findings demonstrating how neuroscience has helped to rethink the way we understand what resilience is.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has affected all countries with more than 100 million confirmed cases and over 2.1 million casualties by the end of January 2021 worldwide. A prolonged pandemic can harm global levels of optimism, regularity, and sense of meaning and belonging, yielding adverse effects on individuals’ mental health
as represented by worry, paranoia, and distress. Here we studied resilience, a successful adaptation despite risk and adversity, in five countries: Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Israel, and Norway. In April 2020, over 2,500 participants were recruited for an observational study measuring protective and obstructive factors for distress and paranoia. More than
800 of these participants also completed a follow-up study in July. We found that thriving, keeping a regular schedule, engaging in physical exercise and less procrastination served as factors protecting against distress and paranoia. Risk factors were financial worries and a negative mindset, e.g., feeling a lack of control. Longitudinally, we found no increase in distress or paranoia despite an increase in expectation of how long the outbreak and the restrictions will last, suggesting respondents engaged in healthy coping and adapting their lives to the new circumstances. Altogether, our
data suggest that humans adapt even to prolonged stressful events. Our data further highlight several protective factors that policymakers should leverage when considering stress-reducing policies.
