Exceptional Outcomes
Exceptional Outcomes
Using Narratives and Family Observations to Understand Resilience
This chapter presents the results of a 14-year follow-up of a group of young adults who had been psychiatrically hospitalized in mid-adolescence. Inspired initially by the observation that some of these youth achieved unexpectedly positive outcomes in adulthood, it examines the conceptual and methodological questions involved in defining and studying the concept of resilience. It develops a multidimensional model of resilience involving evidence of superior functioning in the domains of ego functioning, close relationships, attachment representations, and social competence. Furthermore, it gives careful consideration to the developmental context, pointing out that following participants over time could not be a matter of simply readministering the same measures, but rather had to take into account the changing developmental tasks during the transition to adulthood, including the need to achieve new forms in independence from parents while maintaining a connection with them.
Keywords: adolescents, psychiatric treatment, resilience, adulthood, psychiatric patients, ego functioning, close relationships, attachment representations, social competence
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