Professional Documents
Culture Documents
George A. Bonanno
Teachers College, Columbia University
Many people are exposed to loss or potentially traumatic derived from individuals who have experienced significant
events at some point in their lives, and yet they continue to psychological problems or sought treatment, theorists
have positive emotional experiences and show only minor working in this area have often underestimated and misun-
and transient disruptions in their ability to function. Un- derstood resilience, viewing it either as a pathological state
fortunately, because much of psychology’s knowledge or as something seen only in rare and exceptionally healthy
about how adults cope with loss or trauma has come from individuals. In this article, I challenge this view by review-
individuals who sought treatment or exhibited great dis- ing evidence that resilience in the face of loss or potential
tress, loss and trauma theorists have often viewed this type trauma represents a distinct trajectory from that of recov-
of resilience as either rare or pathological. The author ery, that resilience is more common than often believed,
challenges these assumptions by reviewing evidence that and that there are multiple and sometimes unexpected
resilience represents a distinct trajectory from the process pathways to resilience.
of recovery, that resilience in the face of loss or potential
trauma is more common than is often believed, and that Point 1: Resilience Is Different From
there are multiple and sometimes unexpected pathways to Recovery
resilience.
A key feature of the concept of adult resilience to loss and
trauma, to be discussed in the next two sections, is its
distinction from the process of recovery. The term recovery
M ost people are exposed to at least one violent or connotes a trajectory in which normal functioning tempo-
life-threatening situation during the course of rarily gives way to threshold or subthreshold psychopathol-
their lives (Ozer, Best, Lipsey, & Weiss, 2003). ogy (e.g., symptoms of depression or posttraumatic stress
As people progress through the life cycle, they are also disorder [PTSD]), usually for a period of at least several
increasingly confronted with the deaths of close friends and months, and then gradually returns to pre-event levels. Full
relatives. Not everyone copes with these potentially dis- recovery may be relatively rapid or may take as long as one
turbing events in the same way. Some people experience or two years. By contrast, resilience reflects the ability to
acute distress from which they are unable to recover. Oth- maintain a stable equilibrium. In the developmental litera-
ers suffer less intensely and for a much shorter period of ture, resilience is typically discussed in terms of protective
time. Some people seem to recover quickly but then begin factors that foster the development of positive outcomes
to experience unexpected health problems or difficulties and healthy personality characteristics among children ex-
concentrating or enjoying life the way they used to. How- posed to unfavorable or aversive life circumstances (e.g.,
ever, large numbers of people manage to endure the tem- Garmezy, 1991; Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Mas-
porary upheaval of loss or potentially traumatic events ten, 2001; Rutter, 1999; Werner, 1995). Resilience to loss
remarkably well, with no apparent disruption in their abil- and trauma, as conceived in this article, pertains to the
ity to function at work or in close relationships, and seem ability of adults in otherwise normal circumstances who are
to move on to new challenges with apparent ease. This exposed to an isolated and potentially highly disruptive
article is devoted to the latter group and to the question of event, such as the death of a close relation or a violent or
resilience in the face of loss or potentially traumatic events. life-threatening situation, to maintain relatively stable,
The importance of protective psychological factors in healthy levels of psychological and physical functioning. A
the prevention of illness is now well established (Taylor, further distinction is that resilience is more than the simple
Kemeny, Reed, Bower, & Gruenewald, 2000). Moreover, absence of psychopathology. Recovering individuals often
developmental psychologists have shown that resilience is
common among children growing up in disadvantaged
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to George A.
conditions (e.g., Masten, 2001). Unfortunately, because Bonanno, Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers
most of the psychological knowledge base regarding the College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, Box 218, New
ways adults cope with loss or potential trauma has been York, NY 10027. E-mail: gab38@columbia.edu