Coping with catastrophe: what keeps us going in the face of adversity?

Whether it’s dealing with a life-threatening diagnosis or the loss of a loved one, we are remarkably resilient as a species. We don’t fully understand the science, but we know the support of others is crucial

Amie Du Buisson-Spargo is a drama student set to follow in the footsteps of Grace Kelly and Robert Redford when she starts at the New York acting school they attended. She faced stiff competition – and never let on that she lives with a rare, incurable condition, gastroparesis, that means she can’t eat solid food and must be fed via a tube into her intestine for 10 to 15 hours a day. “I try to do it at night, so that it doesn’t interfere with my day-to-day life,” she says. “It’s difficult, though, since it means I’m connected to a machine on the mains supply and I can’t really move; it’s difficult to get a good night’s sleep. But it’s just one of those things you have to adjust to.”

So, how does a young person such as Du Buisson-Spargo keep going? How does the mum having chemotherapy for a life-threatening cancer get up, make the packed lunches and take the kids to school? How do parents who have lost a child go to work and do the laundry? When others face these daunting challenges, we look on and admire their fortitude. In fact, most of us would do the same if we had to – we are a remarkably resilient species. But the science that underpins resilience is only partly understood.

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from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1r9mGiy
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