Understanding resilience: Global trends and Indian research

Abstract

Resilience in the field of psychology has been conceptualized in multiple ways. Most commonly, the features used to describe the phenomenon of resilience include adaptive functioning in the context of significant threat or adversity and the underlying processes or resources that are implicated as contributing to the same. In this chapter an attempt has been made to scan the trends in resilience research in terms of relevant processes, measurements and intervention issues. Resilience emerges as a dynamic and an interactive concept and has garnered significant support and consensus in the scientific community. Also, resilience is being increasingly examined at multiple levels in psychological research. The chapter makes an attempt to touch upon the plethora of issues that have been raised regarding assessment of resilience as well as the debates surrounding interventions to enhance resilience. The Indian research on resilience is briefly reviewed and the concerns as well as future directions in resilience research are highlighted.