Promoting Psychological Resilience in the U.S. Military

Abstract

The long and frequent deployments of U.S. armed forces associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), combined with the other consequences of combat, such as exposure to trauma, have tested the resilience and coping skills of U.S. military service members and their families. While most military personnel and families are resilient under these difficult circumstances, many also experience difficulties handling stress at some point. Psychological resilience refers to the process of coping with or overcoming exposure to adversity or stress. With regard to mental health interventions, psychological resilience is more than an individual personality trait-it is a process involving interaction among an individual, that individual's life experiences, and current life context. For example, resilience can apply to contexts relevant either to prevention (before exposure to stress) or to treatment (when recovering from the harmful effects of such stress). Over the past several years, DoD has implemented a number of programs and strategies to promote psychological resilience among service members. Although the value of resilience programming is widely accepted, little is known empirically about the programs' effectiveness or the extent to which they are based on factors identified by social and behavioral science as contributing to resilience in individuals or groups. Although some previous research has shed light on the factors that foster psychological resilience, this research has typically not been assembled in a summary form that can be used easily to design programs. Moreover, previous research has not fully examined how these factors might apply in the military.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA545224

Entities

People

  • Andrew M. Parker
  • Cathy D. Sherbourne
  • Glenda Wrenn
  • Hans V. Ritschard
  • Lisa S. Meredith
  • Lydia Hansell
  • Sarah Gaillot

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Engineered Resilient Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Doctrine
  • Employment
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • Military Separation
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychological Adaptation
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Psychology
  • Recreation
  • Students
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Systems Analysis and Design