• News

"How To Build Resilience In Midlife" - Tara Parker-Pope

  • The New York Times
  • New York, NY
  • (July 25, 2017)

Much of the scientific research on resilience – our ability to bounce back from adversity – has focused on how to build resilience in children, but what about grown-ups? While resilience is an essential skill for healthy childhood development, science shows that adults also can take steps to boost resilience in middle age, which is often the time we need it the most. Last year, Dennis S. Charney, MD, dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and president of academic affairs for The Mount Sinai Health System, was leaving a deli when he was shot by a disgruntled former employee. Dr. Charney spent five days in intensive care and faced a challenging recovery. “After 25 years of studying resilience, I had to be resilient myself,” he explained, as he is the co-author of the book “Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges.” “It’s good to be prepared for it, but it’s not too late once you’ve been traumatized to build the capability to move forward in a resilient way.” Dr. Charney also said that there is a biology to this, your stress hormone systems will become less responsive to stress so you can handle stress better. “Live your life in a way that you get the skills that enable you to handle stress.”

- Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System

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