Dennis S. Charney, MD, and his son, Alex Charney, MD
The third episode of the monthly podcast series Road To Resilience details simple steps you can take to raise a resilient family and train your kids to become stronger so they’re prepared to deal with life’s greatest challenges. Research shows exposing children to manageable amounts of stress while putting them in uncomfortable situations can build resilience and confidence.
“You don’t become resilient by living a stress-free life—then you’re not prepared. There’s a term called stress inoculation which means if you expose people to manageable amounts of stress they can handle and learn from, over time a person can handle more and more stress,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “That has implications on how you raise your children. You want to give them experiences outside of their comfort zone that they become confident they can handle. Then you present them with another experience outside of their comfort zone…then eventually they’re prepared.”
In this episode, “Building a Resilient Family,” Dr. Charney explains how he successfully achieved this with his own family, and his son and fellow psychiatrist, Alex Charney, MD, Instructor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine, joins the conversation. While sharing their personal stories, they also discuss the importance of having role models starting at a young age and how this can also help build resilience.
“When you have to handle a trauma, disappointment, grief in your life, usually the way you determine how to handle it starts with a role model or role models. In part it’s related to memories…you learn from your role models. They become memories in your brain. You recall those memories when you’re facing something traumatic, and those memories will stay with you forever,” Dean Charney says.
The podcast, created by the Mount Sinai Health System, is based on the well-received book Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges, co-authored by Dean Charney and Steven Southwick, MD, Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University. Their research in resilience spans 25 years, and their book has been so well received it is now in its second edition.
In the book they present 10 resilience factors to help anyone become stronger when facing life’s greatest challenges, and they explain how these can be learned at any stage of life. Each podcast episode focuses on different factors including facing your fears and having realistic optimism, a moral compass, and a support system, along with physical and brain fitness. The monthly series features insight from Mount Sinai experts who explain the science behind resilience while sharing their personal stories and experiences.
Road to Resilience is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play (link works best in Chrome). New episodes of the series are released on the last Wednesday of each month. You can find more information on the Icahn School of Medicine website or on the Road to Resilience website.