Page 165 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

134 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

graduate and postgraduate training institutes, a social service agency, a
conference of school superintendents, representatives of a consortium of
over 100 public schools, pupil personnel at public schools, and a large com-
pany that was located in the World Trade Center. The community setting
and collaborative nature of most of this work held my interest as I worked
through my own reactions to September 11.

Background

Resilience and Risk

Before a trauma or disaster, children can be more at risk or more resilient.
Many factors increase children’s resilience, as highlighted in Table 10.1.
Because of the prevalence of such resilience factors, most children may
have a brief acute stress reaction after a trauma but do not go on to develop
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Other factors increase a child’s vulnerability to breakdown after a disas-
ter, as indicated in Table 10.2. Together these risk factors affect trauma
response through a child’s physiological reaction, emotional and cognitive
processing, and ability to enlist social support and help after a disaster.

Kinds of Trauma During Disaster

After horrible experiences, acute stress disorders are common, dissipating
within a few weeks. Most children are resilient enough, and are faced with
tolerable enough stresses, to return to their previous level of functioning

Table 10.1 Factors Contributing to Resilience in Children
Preexisting secure attachments.
A tendency to appraise situations optimistically—to see adversity as limited or temporary
and not one’s own fault.
A tendency to seek adult support outside the family.
Compassion for suffering and an inclination to help others as a way of coping.
Tolerable levels of anxiety and effective ways of self-soothing.
A tendency to activity and a sense of the efficacy of one’s actions.
A belief in the right to survive and an ability to imagine a happier future.
The ability to detach and deny for periods of time.