Psychological Resilience and the Meaning of Life and Flow from the Perspective of Positive Psychology: An Analytical Study of The Syrian Arab Army’s Resilience


Abstract in English

Psychological resilience refers to the individual’s tendency to remain steadfast and composed in time of adversity and pressure in addition to his ability to be actively compatible and to cope positively with traumatic states and pressures. Consequently, this is conducive to fastness in recovery and overstepping traumatic states. It also leads to the previous normal functional state, and therefore to considering the traumatic or pressing state an opportunity to empower and fortify one’s self against traumatic states and pressures in the future. The “Meaning of Life,” as an idiom, is considered one of the concepts that has attracted the interest of researchers in the field of mental health. For the human being, the meaning of life relates to its value, his self-contentment and his self-appreciation in the sense that his life revolves around and within the role that he finds himself best in acting. Frankl(1974) asserts that the meaning of life, love and identity follows the traumatic experiences that the individual encounters through his life. Bad situations are considered an opportunity for the individual to grow. To achieve this, one must have faith in the future, and without faith, there is no meaning for life or reason for living. The flow state represents the crucial factor in constituting the meaning and goal of life, and making sense and value out of it. Hence, this state pushes those who cope up with it to be creative; nay, to the highest degrees of human creativeness. This paper attempts to link the previous variables with the resilience of the Syrian Arab Army by approaching methodologically the elements of this research paper. This methodological approach depends on analyzing the literature of the subject matter by collecting and coordinating the theoretical writings and research studies in this domain, then analyzing them in order to illustrate their underlying implications, and therefore easing the task to know the secret of psychological resilience, flow, and meaning of life within the context of positive psychology. In order to excavate for this secret, one must look for the nature of these variable and its limitations, and applying them on the resilience of the Syrian Arab Army. Thus, the current paper relies on a description and explanation emanating from building a base of concepts, and the methodology here is closer to qualitative research.

References used

Chetan, J (2009). An empirical validation of Victor Frank, logotherapentic Model, university of Missour, Kansas city
Csikszentmihalyi, M (1996). Creativity: Flow and psychology of discovery and invention, New York : Harpercollins
Csikszentmihalyi, M(2000).Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life .New York: Basic Books

Download