Defence Magazine

In general, people are selected to do a job based on merit, which includes experience and qualifications for that job. Some workplaces use psychometric testing in order to map a prospective employee's psychological profile, which could include behavioural style and cultural or social identity. In a military setting, a recruit's psychological condition is vital to their success in the job, and those seeking to pursue a military career are subjected to rigorous psychological screening processes.

The central theme governing military psychology is the identification of people who can deal with stressful situations and be pushed to the limits and beyond without faltering or 'cracking'—people who have developed their own ways of being resilient and coping in high-pressure environments. Resilience is not just about managing stress; it's about developing techniques that can be used in moments of extreme stress and hardship.

Major Anne Goyne, a military psychologist with the Psychology Research and Technology Group, has been studying the reasons why recruits leave the military. Through her work, Anne is helping to develop strategies to enhance resilience during initial training and beyond to help boost and maintain performance throughout an individual's military career. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Cohn, military psychologist with the Directorate of Strategic Personnel Planning and Research, completed his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology last year, specialising in the field of coping and resilience. Andrew works with Anne to develop strategies for building resilience in the military. Anne and Andrew's work is not only applicable to those embarking on a military career, but is evident wherever stressful events may occur including for soldiers on operational deployments.

The philosophy behind resilience training

'Resilience in the face of stress is influenced by a range of factors,' says Anne, 'and is not, at least initially, a hard-wired personality characteristic.

Anne and Andrew's work stems from a new way of thinking in military psychology. The previous focus was on dealing with stressed people, and finding strategies to help them deal with their stress. The new focus revolves around preventing people from feeling overwhelmed by teaching them how to choose other ways of reacting to, and coping with, a situation, thereby increasing their sense of control.

Of course, the extent to which a person is resilient or copes positively with stress is not predetermined, or even set at a certain level for those in a civilian environment, since most workplaces embrace diversity and different ways of dealing with situations. The ability to deal well with stress or an emotionally challenging situation is, however, a vital skill for anyone aiming for a successful long-term career in any type of work.

Do we have to be tough?

Resilience is not simply about being 'tough'. It's important to remember that there's nothing wrong with having an emotional reaction to a difficult situation; in fact, there would be something wrong with you if you didn't react!

'The idea that people will not feel something in an emotionally charged situation is simply unrealistic', says Anne. 'The fact is, having emotions is normal.' However, while it is understandable that people will 'feel something', it doesn't mean they're not coping! Most people, especially those in the military, cope very effectively with highly stressful situations and they do so by putting what they're experiencing into perspective. Resilience is about developing patterns of thinking and behaving that help maintain a sense of personal control even in situations that can't be directly controlled.

What makes a resilient person?

Becoming resilient involves being realistic about your level of control over a situation, which aspects you can change and which are simply out of your grasp. Once you are aware of those factors you can place yourself in context, and knowing where you fit it is a form of control and allows you to remain calm, despite a difficult situation.

As Anne puts it, 'people faced with circumstances beyond their control can still learn to cope in a healthy way; it all depends on how well they deal with the physiological arousal, and the thinking patterns associated with fear.' While the fear response is our most important survival mechanism, allowing fear to grow into panic is the most dangerous situation for the combat soldier, or, for that matter, anyone.

Is it possible that some people are just prone to panic? Anne says there are many factors that can cause different people to react to similar situations with varying levels of panic or stress; previous experience, the nature of the situation, underlying physiological reactivity, the presence of others, training and preparation, commitment, leadership and even gender can also influence how we respond. Nevertheless, everyone can learn to develop more effective coping strategies. The important message is to utilise the most effective coping strategy for what is happening, not necessarily to 'act tough' regardless of the needs of the situation.

Strategies for coping

'The relationship between a stressful event and the way an individual interprets the event, and the resources available to them, determines the emotional and behavioural outcome,' says Andrew. In order to deal with a stressful situation or event, a person must arrive at an explanation for it. For example, if you fail a test which you studied hard for, you might give the explanation that you didn't sleep well the night before or you studied all the wrong things. These are all controllable factors and you can do something about them in the future. If you are not resilient, however, you might simply put it down to lack of intelligence or unworthiness on your part and give up.

There are two broad types of coping strategies that people use when they're confronted with a stressful event. The first is 'problem focused' coping, which involves planning ahead, actively coping and accepting the situation at hand. The second is 'emotion focused' coping, which has a positive and a negative aspect to it. The positive emotion-focused 'approach' coping involves seeking social support, looking at the situation in a more realistic and helpful way and distracting yourself by keeping busy with things that you do have control over. The negative 'avoidant' coping strategies include such things as giving up, venting, denial, social avoidance, ruminating, self-blame and can lead to substance abuse.

The way towards resilience in any situation, according to Andrew, is to determine whether a situation can be controlled or not. If you can control an event, for example, if you can do something about passing your next exam, you should use problem-focused coping strategies. If you can't control what has happened, you would use positive emotion-focused coping strategies.

Whichever strategy you use to cope with a stressful event, the main point to be aware of is to steer clear of the avoidant coping behaviours, which will hardly ever result in a positive outcome.

Resilience is important no matter what type of work you do. Stressful situations arise in any work environment and people react in various ways, depending on the person, the situation, and often the events surrounding it. The point is, this idea of resilience can be applied to any person in any situation; and everyone can benefit from applying the coping strategies outlined above.

Developing realistic control—not being a 'control freak'

Lack of control over a situation causes panic or uncertainty in most people. Resilience is about gaining a sense of control over a situation and the associated emotional responses. There are, however, some things that can't be controlled.

Andrew presents two scenarios to illustrate the use of resilient coping strategies.

Consider the following: a first-year law student receives the results of his first exam and finds out he has failed. He looks at the red pen marks all over his exam paper and the large 'F' at the top of the paper and thinks he must be stupid. His classmates all passed the exam with no problems, yet he failed. If he couldn't pass the first exam, he's obviously far too stupid to finish the degree, he thinks to himself. So he drops out, assuming he just doesn't have what it takes. The student in this scenario made a choice: he decided he would not control the situation and allowed himself to become a failure. Instead, when he saw that 'F', he could have made a different choice. Maybe he shouldn't have stayed out drinking the night before; maybe he should have studied properly, instead of just flicking through the textbook the week before; maybe he should have gone to that last tutorial. The student has control over the situation. The resilient approach to this situation would be to accept what has happened, and that it's not the end of the world, and then identify all the things he could do to prepare better and do them next time.

Consider another scenario: a young Army recruit, having been sent off to Kapooka for his initial training, has left his girlfriend back in Canberra. One day, after a few weeks, he receives a letter from her saying she wants to end the relationship because she has met someone else. The recruit is devastated, and decides to take control of the situation and 'fix' it. He sends her flowers, chocolates and a card, saying whatever the problem is, they can solve it and be together. The girlfriend sends another letter saying thank you for the gifts but that she has moved on now and is certain she wants to end the relationship. At this point, the recruit can no longer treat it as a controllable situation. No matter what he does, the girlfriend has made her decision.

So how does the recruit deal with the situation? He must focus on himself, since that is something within his control.

The non-resilient way of reacting to this would be to ruminate on it, indulge in self-blame, deny it and get drunk as a way of trying to feel better—these are all avoidant coping strategies.

'There are three healthy ways of dealing with the situation,' says Andrew. Firstly, the recruit could spend some time with his mates, have a chat, and get some reassurance that he's not the only one to have had this experience. Secondly, he could start to think more realistically about the situation. And finally, he needs to keep busy, focusing on his training, which he does have control over, and do what he can to keep his emotions in check and prevent himself from ruminating too much about his loss. In doing this, he's able to move on with his own life, get through his training and he's learnt something about himself and his ability to cope, and he will be able to apply what he has learnt to future events.

Of course, these are simple scenarios that can hardly be compared with the kinds of extremes that some military personnel are subjected to. The same coping principles apply though, regardless of whether it is a personal problem, a stressful situation at work or stress on operational deployment. Thinking about the situation in a realistic way and using the best coping strategies can be the difference between overcoming life's obstacles or giving up and going under. Sometimes, though, military personnel may benefit from seeing a psychologist who can help them to look at their difficulties in a more realistic and helpful way, and 'fine-tune' their coping strategies.

Defence

Work–Life

Becoming resilient

The philosophy behind resilience training

Do we have to be tough?

What makes a resilient person?

Strategies for coping

Developing realistic control—not being a 'control freak'