Could Trauma Create Critical Resiliency Skills?

This week's reading suggested that the most important asset you have when it comes to resilience thinking is your own life experience. From this sentence could we draw the conclusion that people who have had more trauma in their life will be able to better recognize and handle resilience in ecosystems, organizations, and self-organizing systems?

On the American Psychological Association (APA) website, resilience in terms of psychology is described as: "the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress-- such as family relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stress. it means "bouncing back" from difficult experiences." (APA, 2016) This definition contains some wording specific to psychology, but is overall not very different from the definition given to us in the reading. In addition, similar to our reading, the APA also notes that, "research has shown that resilience is ordinary, not extraordinary." (APA, 2016)

If we are aware that resilience is ordinarily found among humans, and is something that can be learned and developed, I think the opening question is something that needs a closer look and further consideration. If you were to compare two different types of people working in ecological or more corporate fields, those who have overcome massive trauma in their life and those who have experienced little to no trauma, which do you think would be better at handling resiliency for their organization?

While the person with little to no experience with trauma will still be able to develop resiliency critical thinking skills, the individual who has already overcome traumatic experiences has a past to learn and draw from. These past traumas that have already been conquered can then translate into an unique take on ecological or organizational resiliency practices and tactics in complex adaptive systems.

Question: Do you think that people who have had more trauma in their life will be able to better recognize and handle resilience in ecosystems, organizations, and self-organizing systems? 

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx

Comments

[Jennifer Shriver]

This is a really interesting aspect of resilience, the human factor. I think people who have recovered or healed from trauma can be more resilient. However, recovering from trauma - flight or flight, or the more pernicious neuro-biological phenomena of freezing.

Unlocking frozen nuerological systems is a complex and challenging process of healing, one that many many people are going to need, as climate change leads to more suffering, dislocation, crisis, and trauma.

[Cody Janousek]

This makes me think of crocodiles. I remember watching Steve Irwin when I was young and he talked about how tough crocodiles are and would show some living completely normal lives without a limb or with terrible scars from fights. Probably somewhere else on animal planet, I remember seeing that sharks had a similar feature that they can recover from these tremendous traumas from fighting. I realize this isn't a psychological aspect of surviving from trauma, but just like those animals humans are capable of surviving devastating traumas and have a similar capacity for survival.