CERP: State of the Science and Future Directions
January 22-23, 2013, National Academy of Science’s Beckman Center, Irvine California
What attributes and processes contribute to human resilience, and how can we understand and track resilience from a systems-based perspective? These were the two main questions tackled at the Central Evaluation of Resilience Programs’ (CERP) meeting “Towards a Systems Model of Resilience: State if the Science and Future Directions.”
Led by Samueli Institute, nearly 40 researchers and thought leaders worked to define resilience, create a testable model to better understand resilience, and assess the impact of treatments aimed at enhancing health outcomes and promoting resilience. The participants represented diverse areas—from systems biology and systems modeling to psychology, neuroscience, and psychoneuroendocrinology, from the DOD to the National Institutes of Health and from the United States and abroad.
Read about the follow-up CERP expert panel held on August 8-9, 2013
“Resilience is revealed when an individual is faced with a stressor of a psychological, social, spiritual and/or physical nature, and succeeds in thriving despite these challenges,” said Samueli Institute Senior Scientist, Brain, Mind and Healing Shamini Jain, Ph.D.
Attendees all agreed that understanding resilience requires a trans-disciplinary approach that encompasses the study of the whole person, and that takes into account the context in which resilience is required.
“Some biological and psychological changes that occur in response to extreme stress are bound to reflect attempts to adapt to new challenges, but may end up being maladaptive when persons return to their home,” said Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., Director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Bronx Veterans Affairs. “The strategies that keep a soldier alive in the battlefield may not translate well to domestic, civilian life.”
“It’s important to understand that resilience is not only psychological, but also physiological, and that the brain, as a plastic and vulnerable biological organ, reflects both aspects and is central to resilience in the rest of the body,” said The Rockefeller University Professor Bruce McEwen, Ph.D.
CERP attendees worked together to begin the development of a multidimensional, systems-based model of resilience. The model will specify the varied inputs that CERP experts believe is important to measure for understanding resilience, while taking into account the context of the situation or environment in which resilience is to be assessed.
“I was very much struck by the discussion between psychology and biology. It is the old reductionist's body-mind discussion,” said Yan Schroën, MSc, OMD, Senior researcher at the Sino-Dutch Centre for Preventive and Personalized Medicine. “It's is not about the parts, not about the individual; it's about relationships, on a biochemical, personal, emotional and spiritual level.”
“I believe that the success of this meeting was not only due to the selection of a very talented group, but the orchestration of the program and the engagement and the free exchange of ideas, and honoring the difference in perspectives and opinions that were offered by the participants,” said Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute President Jeff Bland. Bland also wrote about his experience at CERP in the Huffington Post.
Many participants agreed that the key is to take the conversation and translate it into implementable action that will improve both physical and mental health. Jain said next steps include the continued development and testing of the systems model of resilience to help assess and track the impact of resilience-enhancing interventions. The CERP group also plans to publish a special issue on systems approaches to resilience to further scientific understandings and discussions in the area of resilience.
Presentations from the proceedings are available for download below:
Resilience From Pathology to Performance
Jeffery Bland, PhD, President Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute
Marine Total Fitness
Colonel (Ret) Art Corbett, MCCDC/CD&I;, G-3 Naval Concepts
Universal Laws (and architectures): For Resilience and Sustainability
John Doyle, PhD, Professor, California Institute of Technology
Sleep and Inflammation in Resilient Aging
Michael Irwin, MD, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles
Exploring a Systems-Informed Definition of Resilience
Shamini Jain, PhD, Senior Scientist, Samueli Institute
Applying Whole Systems Thinking to Wellness and Resilience
Wayne Jonas, MD, President and CEO Samueli Institute
Protective and Damaging Effects of Mediators of Stress and Adaptation: Central Role of the Brain
Bruce McEwen, PhD, Harold and Mararet Mililken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University
Dynamical Modeling and Control Systems Engineering for Optimizing Behavioral Interventions: Implications for Resilience
Daniel E. Rivera, PhD, Professor, Arizona State
Multi-scale Modeling of Inflammatory, Cardiovascular, and Neural Control: Cardiovascular, and Neural Control: Implications for Studying Resilience
Yoram Vodovotz, PhD, Professor, University of Pittsburg