Although the feelings of depression are common (and is a serious chronic condition for many of us), there seems to be a silver lining. Taking a day or so to wallow in thoughts of hopelessness and disappointment may be your brain’s way to become more resilient to stress. Certain psychologists call it “The Hope Circuit” which involves complex chemical reaction relationships within the morphology of our brains.
One of the founders of the relatively new resilience training methods is Martin Seligman Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. He observed that soldiers under extreme adversity all first experience depression and anxiety. He has also observed three possible outcomes:
“On one end are the people who fall apart into PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), depression, and even suicide. In the middle are most people, who at first react with symptoms of depression and anxiety but within a month or so are, by physical and psychological measures, back where they were before the trauma. That is resilience. On the other end are people who show post-traumatic growth. They, too, first experience depression and anxiety, often exhibiting full-blown PTSD, but within a year they are better off than they were before the trauma. These are the people of whom Friedrich Nietzsche said, ‘That which does not kill us makes us stronger’.” READ MORE
This Ahh-Mazing “AHA!” Discovery on a better understanding of the relationship between hopelessness and resilience is partially credited to the research of Psychologist Martin Seligman.
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