Philip Chard's Out of My Mind column is sponsored by AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop, which offers online classes in all genres and abilities of creative writing, as well as coaching and editing services. You can read past columns here.
Even in so-called normal times, which these clearly are not, most of us avoid situations we anticipate will prove mentally and emotionally disturbing. We don’t invite suffering into our lives, which is part of what makes this pandemic particularly onerous. There’s no escaping its impact on our mindsets and moods.
In their own way, blows to the mind can be as damaging as those to the body, with impacts ranging from anxiety, depression and anger to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and heart wrenching grief. Alternatively, there are those who insist adversity is a good thing, one that fortifies character. The common refrain is, “What doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger.”
So, given our current circumstances, which theory comes closer to the truth? Do bad happenings, like COVID-19, make us damaged goods or do they foster personal resilience and greater well-being? Well, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology asserts both perspectives are correct. In other words, it depends.
While it seems paradoxical, the research suggests people who experience negative life events eventually possess better mental health than those who do not. The negative events in the study included bereavement, illness, relationship distress, workplace challenges, and natural disasters, like a pandemic. The implication is that the kinds of stressors many are experiencing during the pandemic can be good for us, helping to enhance our fortitude.
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However, as is often the case in human behavior, there are caveats. Big ones. The first is frequency. For most, enduring one or a few deleterious events builds mettle and eventually enhances well-being, but, as more taxing experiences accumulate in rapid succession, we start paying a greater emotional price. Unfortunately, a pandemic fosters a long series of stressors and losses without intervening breathing spaces, meaning it can overwhelm coping ability with relentless “piling on.”
Intense Emotions
The other factor determining whether adversity proves constructive or damaging is intensity. A single highly traumatic incident can overwhelm someone’s coping ability. In psychology, this is called “one trial learning.” The intense emotionality associated with the event brands it on the brain, leaving a lasting traumatic wound. A pandemic inflicts these kinds of emotional body blows on its most unfortunate victims and their loved ones. Some never recover, leaving them emotionally wounded for life.
All of this suggests there is a “Goldilocks zone” within which a limited number of moderately stressful events have a positive impact on character and resilience. Not too hot, or stressful, but not too cold, or tranquil. Unfortunately, in our present circumstances, we can’t control how many disturbing incidents will invade our lives, nor their intensity. To some extent, this is always the case. However, given the widespread effects of this contagion, our degree of control over what happens to us and those we cherish is appreciably diminished.
Behavioral scientists refer to the capacity to bounce back from personal losses and emotional trauma as “resilience.” Often, this is considered an innate character trait, meaning you either have it or you don’t. Not so. For the most part, resilience is an acquired capacity, and a “just right” amount of adversity is proven to build it.
Overall, humans are adaptable and resilient creatures. We’ve compiled a long history of rising above terrible happenings, from war to famine to profound personal losses to pestilence. Too little adversity leaves us ill-prepared and vulnerable to life’s slings and arrows. Too much drowns our capacity to persevere and bounce back.
Where does the coronavirus pandemic fall along this continuum? Depending on the individual, it can span the entire range. Those least affected may wonder, “What’s the big deal?” Those most affected may feel the existential ground beneath them falling away. Those somewhere in the middle feel the strain, yet, being concerned but not overwhelmed, adversity from the pandemic builds their resilience and strength of character.
Helen Keller, who became blind and deaf at a young age, said: “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”
Which is where most of us find ourselves today. Immersed in the overcoming of COVID-19.
For more, visit philipchard.com.
Philip Chard's Out of My Mind column is sponsored by AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop, which offers online classes in all genres and abilities of creative writing, as well as coaching and editing services. You can read past columns here.
