Resilience in Older Adults

Abstract

Resilience evolves and changes constantly through ongoing experience. It refers to the ability to cope with a mental or emotional crisis or to rapidly return to the pre-crisis state. Resilience is not generally a set of personal characteristics with which one is born; it is an adaptive mechanism that can be learned.  Older adults are more likely to experience low resilience because they are vulnerable to multimorbidity, functional incapacity, and socioeconomic and psychological problems. A high level of social and communal interactions and increased levels of spirituality associate with improved resilience. Resilience allows older adults to accept the damage of aging, while also coping with problems and crises like losing dear, spousal caregiving, or acquiring a disability which leaves them feeling stronger than they might are if they have not encountered those crises. In resilience, failure results in growth. High resilience falls into three characteristics: mental, social, and physical. Mental characteristics include happiness, gratitude, mental health, adaptive coping styles, and optimism. Social characteristics are community involvement, contact with family and friends, a sense of purpose, and strong, positive relationships. Physical characteristics include the ability to remain physically independent and mobile, enjoying good health, and believing that one is aging successfully. The present review aims to throw some light on the role of resilience in older adults and how resilience helps them in adjusting to challenging situations. Older adults should be motivated to participate in different behaviors that help create strength, such as entering asocial communities, creating a family relationship strategy, beginning tension control services, performing fitness, or a new hobby.