Resilience - the immune system of the soul

Anna's father is violent and her mother is addicted to pills. When Anna is nine years old, the authorities take custody of her daughter away from her parents. Anna is sent to a care home. Three years later, with the help of a carer, she manages to go to grammar school. At 18, she is about to graduate. She gets good grades and maintains friendships, has a warm relationship with her carers and plans for the future.

Denise is ten years old when she is placed in the same home as Anna. Her mentally ill mother can no longer look after her. At 16, she has been on an odyssey through various institutions because she disobeys all the house rules. She has dropped out of school and has been charged with theft.

Resilience - a tree shaken by a storm, whose branches are bent but not broken.

Anna and Denise, who have different names, are two of 146 children between the ages of 14 and 17 whose development was followed by psychologist Friedrich Lösel and his team at Bielefeld University in the 1990s. Lösel was one of the first researchers in Europe to investigate a phenomenon for which no German term existed at the time: an inner resilience that allows biographies to succeed. Or: «The ability to adapt to adversity, to cope with difficult circumstances, crises and suffering while remaining mentally reasonably healthy, i.e. not developing any psychological disorders in the long term» - this is how Lösel describes what science understands by resilience today.

«Reasonably healthy,» he emphasises emphatically, «because no human being is invulnerable.» This is why the Bielefeld Invulnerability Study, which made Lösel a pioneer of German-language resilience research, would no longer be called that today. Instead, the analogy of a storm-ravaged tree, whose branches are bent but not broken, fits the modern understanding of resilience. «Resilient people also stumble,» says Lösel, «but the vicissitudes of life do not affect them so severely and permanently.»

Bad start, good development

How is it that certain children grow up to be healthy and balanced adults despite adverse circumstances? Why do defeats and losses plunge some people into deep crises, while others soon find new courage? Where does this inner strength come from? Can we learn resilience and even pass it on to our children?

These and other questions were the subject of scientific research for the first time in the 1950s. On the Hawaiian island of Kauai, US developmental psychologist Emmy Werner began her long-term study, which is considered the beginning of resilience research. For over three decades, psychologists, doctors, nurses and social workers documented the development of 700 children born in 1955 - from prenatal examinations to the age of 40.

A secure bond is the greatest protection in life.

Friedrich Lösel, psychologist

Researcher Werner categorised a third of these children as a risk group because they grew up in particularly stressful conditions. They came from poor, often dysfunctional families, suffered from hunger and some were neglected or abused. As adults, most of them struggled with similar problems to their parents. They drank too much, had dropped out of school, were mentally ill, unemployed or in conflict with the law. But not all of them: 72 of the 200 at-risk children had developed into healthy and productive adults with a positive attitude to life despite their poor starting conditions.

Properties that protect

Werner called these children «vulnerable but invincible». Why had they survived unscathed what had led the others astray? In search of answers, the researcher and her team studied the developmental trajectories within the at-risk group - and found that the resilient children had resources that had mitigated the influence of their dysfunctional parental home compared to the failed children.

For example, there had been at least one person in their childhood who had stood by them, believed in them and encouraged them: relatives, neighbours, friends, church members and very often teachers who were close to the child, gave them support and served as a positive role model. In addition, the resilient children differed from the others in terms of characteristics that were particularly pronounced in them: They were helpful and socially competent, had good problem-solving and communication skills and were more likely to take responsibility in difficult moments.

They also showed more perseverance and a higher motivation to achieve, had a more even temperament - and apparently had the feeling that they could make a difference. The resilient children stated in interviews that they believed they could positively influence school difficulties through hard work.

The findings from the Kauai study were groundbreaking for further resilience research. Personal and social resources, which developmental psychologist Werner had recognised as psychological defences, also proved to be relevant in subsequent studies, and over the decades researchers have identified further so-called protective factors. These increase the likelihood that a child is equipped to cope with stress and can handle problem situations well; however, they can also become a risk factor - namely if they are not present.

Conveying attentiveness

«For example, attachment,» says resilience researcher Lösel. «It is the greatest protection in life.» Those who receive care, protection, emotional warmth, reliability and recognition from their closest caregivers from birth experience a secure bond that establishes trust in themselves and the world.

Conversely, numerous studies have suggested that insecure or traumatic attachment experiences in childhood increase the risk of mental disorders, delinquency, addiction and other problematic behaviour.

Resilience is not a quality that you have or don't have, but a process.

But Lösel knows that there is hope even for those who have been dealt a bad hand by their parents and are therefore more vulnerable: «It is possible for other caregivers to provide children with the kind of affection that is so important for healthy development.»

Once resilient, always resilient?

Solsel's Bielefeld study of 146 young people, all from the same homes, also revealed a group of 66 resilients who developed well despite unfavourable signs - they also generally had one or more close caregivers outside their family.

«Teachers or home educators, but also sports coaches, club leaders and friends,» says Lösel. Social support outside the family is therefore one of the most important resilience factors - even for adolescents who receive sufficient attention at home.

This fact debunks a widespread myth about resilience. It states that it is a stable personal characteristic - which would suggest that you either have it or you don't. Isabella Helmreich, Scientific Director of Resilience and Society at the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research in Mainz, disagrees. Rather, Helmreich knows that resilience is a process characterised by many factors that influence each other, i.e. strengthen or weaken each other.

«Resilience is an interplay of innate strengths and those that people acquire in the course of their development in interaction with their environment,» she says, «as well as the conditions they find there - is there a social network that supports them, health care that they can count on?»

That is why it cannot be said that once resilient, always resilient. «I may cope well with one crisis event and then the next one throws me off course,» says Helmreich. «For example, because it affects me so emotionally that I'm not able to utilise personal resilience factors. Or because the people I need support from are not available at the time to turn things around.» Those who survive a separation unscathed do not necessarily have to cope well with illness, for example.

The role of genes

However, it is undisputed that people are differently equipped when it comes to coping with stress. What role does our genetic make-up play in this? «There is no resilience gene,» says behavioural researcher Klaus-Peter Lesch from the University Hospital of Würzburg. «Nor is there a specific gene for resilience factors such as intelligence, which helps us to solve problems, or optimism, which makes people feel hopeful.» Rather, a large number of genes shape personality traits that tend to favour or discourage a robust psyche.

Lesch was able to show, for example, that the tendency towards anxious behaviour, which increases the risk of depression and anxiety disorders, is linked to genes that influence messenger systems in the brain. For example, the serotonin balance: serotonin transmits information in the nervous system and also acts as a hormone that can positively influence our state of mind.

The matter is complex: several hundred genes have an influence on our resilience.

As part of an experiment that caused a sensation in the mid-1990s, Lesch manipulated the gene for the serotonin transporter in mice. This regulates how much of the «happiness hormone» is available. The result: the genetically manipulated animals with a shortened variant of the transporter gene were more anxious than other conspecifics, withdrew from them and hid.

US researchers made a similar discovery a good ten years later. After Hurricane Katrina, they analysed how people affected by the disaster coped. Again, they found that those who were particularly distressed - like Lesch's laboratory mice - were mostly equipped with a shortened variant of the serotonin transporter gene.

Of dandelions and orchids

From today's perspective, the findings from his experiment should be treated with caution, says Lesch: «They would probably still be valid in animal models, but their significance for humans has been overestimated. The gene for the serotonin transporter does influence the tendency to anxiety - but only as one of many genes, as we now know. Its effect is not as strong as initially thought.» This shows how complex the matter is.

Several hundred genes are now thought to have an influence on our resilience. Hereditary factors and environmental conditions go hand in hand, about half each. «This corresponds to the average for large populations, but can be different for individuals, i.e. the hereditary influence can be stronger or weaker,» says Lesch. «This is because genes not only interact with the environment, but also with each other. We still understand little about this interaction.»

Some children are like orchids, fragile and unstable - but they blossom all the more beautifully in a greenhouse.

Klaus-Peter Lesch, behavioural scientist

Genes have a significant effect on the development of the psyche. But so does the environment, as Lesch knows: «Genetics is not a destiny, but rather a blueprint whose framework allows for different developmental possibilities.»

While children with a genetic predisposition to anxiety, depression, ADHD or autism spectrum disorders were once generally considered to be disadvantaged, studies have since shown that an emotionally supportive, nurturing environment not only helps these children to develop largely inconspicuously - but often also awakens exceptional potential in them.

«It seems that these children react more strongly than others to both negative and positive environmental stimuli,» says Lesch, using a metaphor from botany: «Most children are like dandelions: they are robust and can survive almost anywhere. Some, however, are like orchids, fragile and unstable - but they blossom all the more beautifully in a greenhouse.»

Youth in crisis

When asked about the resilience of the younger generation, the Federal Statistical Office at least does not have an encouraging answer: mental disorders were the most common reason for hospitalisation among 10 to 24-year-olds in 2022. The causes of this development are being puzzled over, with the meritocracy, a permanent state of crisis - pandemic, climate, Ukraine war - or even social media being suspected .

US psychologist Peter Gray, on the other hand, sees the mental crisis of the younger generation as being caused by a loss of autonomy. Be that as it may, the problem does not appear to be due to dysfunctional family relationships. This is suggested by surveys such as the 18th Shell Study, according to which young people have never rated their relationship with their parents as highly as they do today.

Exaggerated ideas of what constitutes a successful life lead to frustration, pressure and anxiety.

Jürg Frick, psychologist

«Since 2002, the proportion of young people who have a positive relationship with their parents has been steadily increasing,» concludes the latest survey, in which over 2,500 12 to 25-year-olds took part. Family risk factors such as violence and abuse, a lack of attachment or a chronically contentious and emotionally cold parental home - which jeopardise healthy psychological development - would at least not be suspected.

Unattainable goals

So most young people don't seem to lack love. So how is it possible that many still lack stability and the confidence to deal with challenges? There is no simple answer to this question, says Zurich psychologist Jürg Frick.

«Today, we know more about mental disorders, talk about them more openly and recognise them earlier. Where children were once dismissed as odd or snivelling, people are taking a closer look. This is a positive development that at least partly explains the increase in diagnoses,» says Frick, who advises families, teachers and schools and has long lectured at the Zurich University of Teacher Education, including on promoting resilience.

«However, the increased susceptibility of young people to mental disorders is probably also due to exaggerated ideas of what constitutes a successful life - fuelled by social pressure to optimise and flaunted on social media. Ideally, this includes top earnings, a corresponding standard of living and a body in top shape. This inevitably creates a gap between who you are and the goals you set yourself. This leads to frustration, pressure and anxiety.»

Pampering weakens the psyche

Parents can also weaken their child's emotional defences, Frick knows. Even when their parenting is not lacking in love - but it amounts to what Frick summarises under the collective term spoiling. «Spoiling a child,» says Frick, «simply put, means giving them too little or too much attention.»

Resilience can only be developed by learning to overcome resistance.

In the first case, overprotection, a lack of trust in the child and their abilities or a hasty willingness to take things off their hands can deny adolescents important learning experiences in terms of problem-solving skills, emotion regulation and social skills. In the second case, parents take too little leadership, set hardly any boundaries, confuse wishes with needs and thus prevent their child from practising the very skills that are so important for a resilient psyche.

Learning to overcome resistance yourself

«Frustration tolerance and the willingness to make an effort», Frick knows from his work with schools and teachers, «have decreased significantly.» Resilience researcher Lösel speaks of a «learnt helplessness»: «We know that such adolescents have an increased risk of depression or anxiety disorders. Above all, education should enable a child to become independent.»

According to Lösel, the fact that this is less successful today is also due to social developments that fuel the pressure of expectations and uncertainty: «This constant comparison of who has more or is getting ahead doesn't exactly help you to be level-headed. As a result, parents themselves sometimes lose what they should convey to their children: the confidence that things will turn out well.»

Counsellor Frick has also experienced this: parents ultimately want to help their child achieve what is considered desirable, especially with regard to school and education. «They fight for their child's success and do a lot to ensure that they achieve these goals - sometimes even if they don't match their inclinations or abilities,» says Frick.

«On the other hand, they want to see their child happy and try tirelessly to please them. This is a mistake, because feelings of happiness and contentment are sensations that young people have to generate themselves. Parents can only support them in this.» It follows that resilience can only be developed by learning to overcome resistance.