Vulnerability and Resilience in Relationship to Traumatic Events, Essay Example

Introduction

The current society is bombarded with several issues of imbalance and chaos. In the past, wars were considered to be the primary source of traumatic stress. However, in a way, with wars being constantly balanced through different social agencies today, it could be analyzed that wars have been seen to have a lesser contribution to the current cases of post traumatic stress syndrome diagnosis on several individuals at present. The current situations involving social chaos, social devaluation and other stresses happening worldwide specifically contribute in the likely becoming of a modern society and a modern reason for the development of situations that specifically traumatize individuals. Notably, such an occurrence creates a great reason for researchers to find ways to balance the ways by which human individuals respond to matters that specifically create traumatic effects on them. In studies pursued through the years, psychological experts found out that there are two particular values that specifically balance out the existence of traumatic reactions to certain events that people engage with at present (Bonanno, 28). These values include resilience and vulnerability. In the discussion that follows, both resiliency and vulnerability are to be presented and clarified in line with the manner by which they both affect individuals at the onset of a traumatic reaction upon a situation towards mandating a more refined consideration over one’s desire to overcome trauma as it is.

What is Vulnerability?

The negative disposition of a person towards facing problems, challenges and unprecedented events all come from the idea of having a vulnerable outlook in life. For individuals who are vulnerably, change is not such a good institution of development. People who are vulnerable often see situations as points of relative chaos. It could be considered that vulnerability puts a person in a position that is most often than not imbalanced especially in conditioning one’s capability to cope up with events that affect their well being. Being vulnerable makes one easy to sway wherein one’s belief could be easily changed based on what that person thinks that the society expects him or her to react upon a situation. Depending too much on what others might say, a person who has a vulnerable attitude often decides under the pressure of the society and not in response to his own understanding of what is right and of what must be done regarding a certain occurrence.

Traumatic events often break down the belief system of a vulnerable person. It is often mandated that a person with a vulnerable outlook in life specifically get easily drowned in negative thoughts as he or she tries to manage to get out of a traumatic situation. Individuals with such an understanding of life often end up wallowing over the pain for a long time hence letting the trauma affect their being, often leading to depression, insanity or worst cases of suicidal attempts. Most often than not, people undergoing such situations are helped through therapies but would specifically require longer time for recovery from the trauma that they have been involved in. Part of the therapy usually involves an establishment of counter response to the attitude of a person regarding the said matter. One of the most effective counter attitudes to vulnerability is that of resilience.

What is Resilience?

One’s capability to balance himself out even in the middle of difficult situation is noted as the attitude of resilience. Resilience is basically considered as a characteristic that makes one more capable of handling difficulties because of the emergence of one’s positive outlook in life. In a way, a person who is resilient is able to see good from bad and use that particular good matter in finding a more refined course of facing life’s adversities. The positive approach that one uses to face these difficulties often develop one’s capabilities to make things better even when facing situations that are hard to deal with. Obviously, resilience is the opposite of vulnerability and developing this characteristic among those who are experiencing post traumatic syndrome would help well in assisting them to cope up with their current dilemmas (Glantz, et al, 56).

One’s outlook in life directly affects how he sees the supposed effects of particular challenges into his being. Relatively, it could be analyzed that such an outlook should be cultivated. Cultivating resilience involves more than just telling someone to become positive. It specifically requires personal conviction, a sense of internally affecting one’s behavior through changing or transforming one’s system of personal belief. For instance, people who are resilient often have strong convictions about the positive ways of living. It could be from their upbringing as individuals or it could be coming from their religious affiliations which serve as their anchor when life itself pushes them towards falling into instances of traumatic occurrences. The capability of one to balance comes from both internal and external factors. The external factors often involve social aspects that a person lets himself be affected with. As mentioned earlier, this could include both family and religious engagements. On the other end, internal factors impose on the personal belief that one has towards something. The idea of remaining constantly balanced especially in the face of turmoil is a capability that recommends peace of mind. The willingness of one to become positive is not an easy task especially for someone who has long been living in a vulnerable manner.

Relationship of Values towards Facing and Dealing with Traumatic Events

Both resilience and vulnerability are considered as values of measurement for those facing traumatic events. True, every individual today faces certain points of adversaries specifically involving different courses of stress-related issues. Traumatic events however are more insistent in marking a person’s being. While vulnerability pushes one to handle situations at his or her weakest point, resilience allows one to draw strength from positive thoughts and efficiently define his or her own being from the difficulties of facing the trauma and accounting the situation as a stepping stone towards improvement. At present, people become more vulnerable to handling traumatic events in a more negative manner (Grotberg, 43). Given that there are different aspects of sources of stress that are specifically demeaning to many, remaining positive is somewhat an impossible course to take. Nonetheless, with full cultivation of a resilient character, one becomes more convinced that life in itself is already a challenge and the different events that make up life are simply stepping stones that entails to make a better person out of an individual rather than pushing one down to his or her failure (Living Is For Everyone (LIFE), 32). Resilience and its cultivation among people today could save a lot of lives from being wasted on wallowing over traumatic experiences that mark an individual.

Conclusion

Resilience and vulnerability are two opposite attitudes the human individuals both have. It is just a matter of cultivation that one value over powers the other. Undeniably, it could be analyzed that making a more positive outlook in life a way of living makes it easier for many to face life’s adversaries in a much easier and rather enjoyable manner. The cultivation of a resilient value may take a while especially if it is being applied in a person who is in need of responding to anti-PTSD therapies. Nonetheless, all the hard work of responding to the situation in a more positive approach pays well in refining the course of development of a person who is in need of assistance especially when it comes to recovering from a traumatic event experienced by one.

References:

Bonanno GA (2004). Loss, Trauma, and Human Resilience. Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist 59, 20-28.

Glantz MD, Johnson JL (Eds.) (1999). Resilience and Development: Positive Life Adaptations. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers: New York.

Grotberg, EH (1995). A Guide to Promoting Resilience in Children: Strengthening the Human Spirit: The Bernard van Leer Foundation: The Hague.

Living Is For Everyone (LIFE) – A Framework for Prevention of Suicide in Australia (2007). Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing: Canberra.