You can hardly watch the news or read a newspaper without learning about yet another disaster.

It almost seems normal that something terrible is happening to someone somewhere. People losing their lives, far-ranging damage, and consequent hardship are the fruit of disaster. The prolonged psychological impact of these experiences cannot be overstated.

One of the things that gets us through a disastrous experience is called Resilience. Simply put, resilience is a person’s ability to adjust to, adapt to, and recover from, exposure to a difficult or even terrible situation. Another way to say this is that resilience is the ability to bounce back, and be able to restore psychological and emotional balance and well-being. If you are resilient that does not mean that you are strong. Rather, it refers to your ability and power to adjust and adapt to whatever gets thrown at you. You can be physically strong but still get overwhelmed because of a weak ability to adapt to your situation. Disasters can occur out of nowhere and cause incredible damage before you can begin to comprehend what just happened.

The stressors that are part of disaster can be unique. There are different types of traumatic events that can threaten you or your life. A disaster situation, however, can be much much more. A disaster can be more extreme and last a long time. You may not only be in a survival situation, you may be surrounded by chaos and uncertainty. You may not have the tools or information at hand that you need to adapt and to cope. It is your resilience that you will lean on to get through it. Dealing with the immediate, and then the long-term aspects of the situation is what is needed.

One way to characterize a disaster is to determine if it is natural or man-made. With natural disasters, there is no one to blame, and it was unavoidable. You had no control and are basically a helpless victim of nature. Then there are disasters that are man-made. Man-made disasters may be the result of neglect or even caused on purpose, and therefore could have been prevented. They can make people very angry and want whoever is responsible to be penalized and punished. This includes pandemics and bio-terroristic acts that result in anxiety and fear in a public health emergency. The consequences can last longer than the event itself.

Psychological research on resilience seems to suggest two main ingredients at work in resilient people. They are flexibility and motivation. In a way, the old definition of flexibility that means being able to bend without breaking kind of fits here.

The ability to change or compromise can be immensely valuable. Being able to figure out how to make it through a disaster can be the result of combining what you have learned in the past, then adjusting that learning with trial and error efforts to cope with the disaster consequences. Being rigid will not be an asset.

What you do in a disaster situation must match the challenges of that situation.

Motivation is also an important part of resilience. Think of it as a drive inside you to act and accomplish something. Motivation is a big part of accomplishing goals and finishing difficult tasks. Your motivation is needed to stay focused and to learn new skills. It involves the willingness to change and make whatever adjustments are needed to be successful. It includes a tendency to look at threats as challenges to be overcome.

After a disaster has occurred, remember that there are those people who have survived, and then rebuild. These resilient souls have allowed humanity to survive incredible disasters, to flourish, and to develop. Resilience is built into us if we choose to use it.

— Dr. Joseph Switras provides clinical psychological services at United Health District in Fairmont to people age 5 and up.