Resilience and Gifted Children

Until just a decade ago, most psychologists thought resilience that is, “bouncing back” to normal after trauma or other negative events was rare. They assumed that most children exposed to frightening events were traumatized and needed psychotherapy, because those were the children they saw in their offices. George Bonanno and his colleagues found that humans across cultures have remarkable abilities to bounce back after adversity. Since then, psychologists have studied resilience in children, adolescents, and adults across a wide variety of situations ranging from bullying to natural disasters, with similar findings. Gifted children, by virtue of their intelligence, can be excellent problem solvers, but sometimes people neglect to show them how social and personal events need as much planning and creativity as schoolwork. In a world where wars, refugee crises, domestic and public violence, and natural disasters are increasing, it is likely that many of us will teach or parent a child who has experienced severe trauma.