Nietzsche was right: adversity makes you stronger

The people with the best outcomes were those who had experienced some negative
events in their lives.

Another study found that people with chronic back pain were able to get around
better if they had experienced some serious adversity, whereas those who had
suffered either large amounts of adversity, or none at all, were more
impaired in life.

Dr Seery said one possibility for this pattern was that people who have been
through traumatic experiences have had the opportunity to develop their
coping mechanisms more acutely.

He said: “The idea is that negative life experiences can toughen people,
making them better able to manage subsequent difficulties.”

Dr Seery also said people who have gone through stressful events may have
stronger social networks than others, as they have learnt how to get help
from others when they need it.

“I really look at this as being a silver lining,” he added.

“Just because something bad has happened to someone doesn’t mean they’re
doomed to be damaged from that point on.”

Dr Seery’s paper on adversity and resilience was published in the latest issue
of the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science.

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