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From Helplessness to Optimism: The Role of Resilience in Treating and Preventing Depression in Youth

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Handbook of Resilience in Children

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Abstract

This chapter, mainly theoretical in orientation, also reviews recent research on resilience and gender. The theoretical orientation represented here is known as relational-cultural theory. Dr. Jordan posits that gender and culture interact in multilevel and complex ways such that the concept of resilience should be applied in extremely different and specific ways in females versus males. To the extent that girls feel they are a part of mutually growth-fostering relationships in which they care about others and are cared about as well, they will experience a sense of flexibility, worth, clarity, creativity, zest, and desire for more connection.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We will not focus on bipolar disorder, or manic depression, which is relatively rare in children and which appears to be more heavily biologically based (Hammen & Rudolph, 2003).

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Acknowledgments

Research on the effectiveness of the Penn Resiliency Project is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH52270). The Penn Resiliency Program is owned by the University of Pennsylvania. The University of Pennsylvania has licensed this program to Adaptive Learning Systems. Drs. Reivich and Seligman own Adaptive stock and could profit from the sale of this program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, PA, USA

    Karen Reivich, Tara M. Chaplin & Martin E. P. Seligman

  2. Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, USA

    Jane E. Gillham

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  1. Karen Reivich
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  2. Jane E. Gillham
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  3. Tara M. Chaplin
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  4. Martin E. P. Seligman
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Correspondence to Karen Reivich .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Sam Goldstein

  2. Department of Psychology, McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Needham, MA, USA

    Robert B. Brooks

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Reivich, K., Gillham, J.E., Chaplin, T.M., Seligman, M.E.P. (2023). From Helplessness to Optimism: The Role of Resilience in Treating and Preventing Depression in Youth. In: Goldstein, S., Brooks, R.B. (eds) Handbook of Resilience in Children. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14728-9_9

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