Pathways to Resilience III: Beyond Nature vs. Nurture

Rethinking Resilience in the Aftermath of War and Political Violence
Speaker: Joop de Jong
Cultural neuroscience may help us to reconcile the nature-nurture debate by postulating that mankind has developed divergent brains: differences between groups are not necessarily an epiphenomenon of culture imposed on one universal brain. PTSD, for example, may appear to be universal, though research shows that it is not the primary course of reactivity to trauma and it does not capture the diversity in trauma reactions around the globe. With regard to resilience, this same thinking applies. We need to think about resilience as a socio-ecological process that involves wider systems, especially when studying resilience in post-conflict settings. The clinical staging model may help us to achieve this, reinventing our thinking about emotions, complaints, symptoms and psychopathology. It enables us to radically change our thinking about classification and diagnosis, going beyond the DSM. We need, instead, to develop our capacity to measure changes within and between complex systems, ranging from methylation and epigenetics to emotional attachment and political systems. Only then will we determine the most desirable interventions for a socially nested self that relies on family and community for successful development.