Resilience in the Face of Trauma with Professor George Bonanno

*The information in this podcast is intended for Healthcare Practitioners.

In this episode, Nathan speaks with George A. Bonanno, a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, Teachers College. His research focuses on how people respond to potentially traumatic events, such as disaster, war, assault and life-threatening injury, whether they present with post-traumatic stress disorder or not. These studies have revealed that the natural response to stressful situations is not trauma, but resilience, and as such, we may be underestimating our ability to rebound without suffering long-term consequences.

George has authored two books, The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss and The End of Trauma: How the New Science of Resilience is Changing How We Think About PTSD.

Highlights

• How history has shaped our understanding of trauma (5:00)
• Recovery patterns following a traumatic episode (11:00)
• The resilience blind spot (15:30)
• Potentially traumatic events (PTEs) (17:00)
• Human stress response capacity (25:00)
• The resilience paradox (31:00)
• How to build your resilience (37:00)
• Future research in the field of resilience (48:00)

Useful Links

Link to George’s book, The End of Trauma: How the New Science of Resilience is Changing How We Think About PTSD

Link to George’s book, The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss