“Crises are turning points in a person’s biography, both negative and positive”

These are events associated with acute stress that lead to the person being overwhelmed (though usually only for a time). Crises are generally turning points in a person’s biography. Retirement, serious illness, divorce or the loss of a spouse are challenges that require a person to make considerable adjustments. Crises force a person to redefine themselves and to reorganise their life. At the same time, the word crisis originates from the Greek “krisis”, which also means “decision”. To me, this means that a crisis is not in itself a bad thing, rather that it can have either a negative or a positive outcome.

Basically two factors determine how a person responds to a crisis. One is naturally the people around us – the degree of support provided by family and friends. At the same time, a person’s reaction also depends on the structure of their personality. An open, friendly and curious person often finds it easier to adapt to new situations than a person who anxiously seeks security in their routine. The results of studies show that the majority of people manage crises well. Around one third are crisis-resistant or mentally resilient. Around half are initially thrown off balance but adapt to the new situation over a period of about two years. Only a minority – roughly ten to twenty per cent, depending on the event – never recover.

A person who experiences a crisis or arrives at a turning point in their biography has to adapt mentally and adjust to a new situation. This process of adaptation takes time. The person needs not only to let go and say goodbye – for example to a job that for many years has defined their identity, or to a beloved one who has died. They also need to find a new identity and develop new day-to-day routines. Scientists used to assume that these different phases of the mourning or adaptation process happened one after the other. But current approaches are moving away from this sequential logic. The dual process model, for example, identifies two forces that come into play. Loss orientation processes the individual’s grief, restoration orientation provides distraction. When we process a loss, we oscillate constantly between these two positions. Most people are initially more loss-oriented – and as time passes, restoration orientation becomes increasingly important.

Resilience develops through resistance. Many people just plod through life. They don’t activate their resources until a stressful situation occurs. At the same time, though, this means that they don’t become aware of their strengths until a crisis happens. Many people also report that they have learned from crises that they have survived – and are now living life more intensively, for example, or experiencing greater gratitude. The temporary feeling of being overwhelmed in a crisis is often the beginning of personal growth.

In addition to a supportive social environment, strength of character – for example in the form of receptiveness, humour, gratitude or empathy – plays a major and primary role. These strengths are not predetermined; they can be trained. This is why mental resilience can also be learned to a certain extent – and promoted through targeted offerings. Individual differences need to be borne in mind. Research has shown, for example, that men find it more difficult than women to ask for support from the people around them after the loss of a partner. They usually suffer far more from loneliness and the associated negative impact on their health. Loneliness is unfortunately a taboo subject in our society. Loneliness must become a public health concern, and all the more so since it is becoming more common in today’s individualistic society and is affecting a growing number of people. This is why effective prevention also takes the societal framework into account, and enables people to participate in society through mobility services and leisure activities.