358 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies N. 4 / 2014 and psychosocial stressors. In this psychological context, the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (22nd edition) defines resilience as the “human capacity to cope flexibly with extreme situations and to overcome them”. Meanwhile, scientific and specialist literature envisions resilience in the face of adversity in three ways.17,18 As a resistance process or basic capacity; as the capacity to recover, adapt and rebalance; or as growth after a traumatic event. Concerning the well-deserved relevance of psychological training in the present day, it is worth highlighting numerous research papers (those cited in this article, inter alia) which have observed that certain resilience programmes protect against depression and facilitate better adjustment and adaptation, reduce levels of cortisol in states of high stress and show positive effects over the long term. Military trials have demonstrated that such training improves coping strategies as well as emotional intelligence, positive thoughts in stressful situations, optimism and the seeking out of social support when required. The specific factors included in the most relevant resilience programmes of today have demonstrated significant regulatory effects when it comes to stressors or hazards and health and well-being. These factors can be grouped into three main areas of resilience (biological, psychological and social) and are addressed depending on whether they are internal or external to the subject. Internal factors refer to qualities that depend solely on the individual, both from a biological and a psychological perspective. Meanwhile, external factors are connected to a person’s environment and, as a result, do not depend so much on the individual although this (by means of their internal competencies) may sometimes exert an influence on him or her. The external factors with most empirical evidence include social support.13,19,20 This factor can flourish in different settings, such as families, organisations or communities. Family support is one of the external factors that has the most impact on individual resilience. As for organisational contexts, such as the military for instance, group cohesion, alongside teamwork and a positive unit environment, constitute priority subfactors. This is the reason why leadership (a dimension included in the working 17 REICH, John W., ZAUTRA, Alex J. and HALL, John S. (Eds.): Handbook of Adult Resilience, New York: Guilford Press, 2010. 18 MEREDITH, Lisa S., SHERBOURNE, Cathy D., GAILLOT, Sarah J., HANSELL, Lydia, RITSCHARD, Hans V., PARKER, Andrew M. and WRENN, Glenda: Promoting psychological resilience in the U.S. military, Santa Monica, CA. RAND Corporation, 2011. 19 LEE, Jennifer E.C., SUDOM, Kerry A. and MCCREARY, Donald R.: “Higher-Order model of resilience in the Canadian forces”, Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, Vol. 43 (3), 2011. 20 GARCÍA SILGO, Mónica: “Revisión de programas de resiliencia basados en la evidencia en los ejércitos” Review of Evidence-based Resilience Programmes Used in the Armed Forces, Sanidad Militar Military Health, Vol. 69 (3), 2013.
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