Looking at the Positives: Resilience in the Face of Chronic
Illness Resilience: from the Latin meaning to jump back or
recoil; an ability to recover from or adjust easily to
misfortune or change. This concept is most often used to
describe responses to emotional trauma, such as post-traumatic
stress disorder, childhood neglect and abuse, or, in recent
months, global economic conditions. Researchers at Northern
Arizona University in Flagstaff have won a $6 million grant from
the National Institutes of Health to establish the Center for
American Indian Resilience, which will look at resilience in
another context. They will explore why some American Indians
facing significant health challenges, such as chronic illnesses,
seem to thrive despite less-than-ideal living conditions, while
others do not. The university will work in partnership with the
University of Arizona in Tucson and Diné College in Shiprock,
New Mexico. Dr. Nicolette Tuefel-Shone describes the rationale
behind this approach. "Native American heal