The Peak Performance Expert

Hooray for the army for recognizing that their soldiers can benefit from emotional resilience training. 

Approximately one-fifth of troops returning from combat have mental health problems. War is hell – you bet – and what used to be called “shell shock” back in WWI is now called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a serious constellation of symptoms that can lead to prolonged depression, significant under-functioning in all areas of life and – sometimes – suicide. 

The program is going to cost $117 million dollars.  It is based on the research of Dr. Marty Seligman, chairman of the Positive Psychology Center at U-Penn.  Dr. Seligman is a big name in psychology circles for his illustrious academic career and his ground-breaking research and interventions. 

What do they mean by resilience?  According to Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman, “Resilience can be defined as having the ability to grow and thrive in the face of challenges and bounce back from adversity.”  

Sounds good to me.  It’s nothing new, either; at least to those of us in the peak performance and sport psychology world. Many of the techniques and interventions derived from sport psychology are designed to help people become more resilient.  We sometimes use the term “mental toughness” to describe it. 

A mentally tough person is able to perform at an optimal level no matter what the circumstances.  How you get to that point is what my coaching and training programs are all about. 

Stay tuned as I write more about what the Army is doing and how you might be able to incorporate this into your life.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Mental Toughness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.