Psychology
Burnout: signs, causes and recovery
Burnout is exhaustion, cynicism and falling effectiveness caused by chronic work stress. How it differs from depression, who is at risk, and what actually helps.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Resilience
Also known as Resilient, Psychological resilience, Bouncing back
The ability to adapt and recover after hardship, loss or stress. It is not a fixed trait you either have or lack; it grows from relationships, habits and support.
In Psychology
Resilience is the process of adapting well to difficult experiences — bereavement, illness, money trouble, trauma — and finding your footing again afterwards. The American Psychological Association describes it as coming from mental, emotional and behavioural flexibility, not from feeling no pain. Resilient people still grieve and struggle; they find a way through.
It is not a personality you are born with or without. What builds it: close, supportive relationships; looking after sleep, food and movement; a sense of meaning or purpose, which for many people in Pakistan includes faith and prayer; helping others; and not numbing stress with drugs, alcohol or sleeping pills. Read more on resilience.
Where this comes up
Psychology
Childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
Abuse, neglect and a chaotic home raise the odds of illness in adulthood — but an ACE score is not a sentence, and safe relationships change the outcome.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Codependency: when caring for others costs you yourself
Codependency is a popular idea, not a diagnosis. Caring deeply for family is healthy; losing yourself entirely, or enabling someone's harm, is not.
27 Sept 20268 min read
Psychology
Maslow's hierarchy of needs: what he said, and what the evidence shows
Maslow proposed five human needs in 1943, but he never drew the famous pyramid, and the strict step-by-step order has weak support. The core idea still helps.
27 Sept 20267 min read
Related terms
- TraumaPsychological trauma, Emotional traumaAn event or series of events frightening or harmful enough to overwhelm a person's ability to cope, and the lasting effects it can leave. Most people exposed to trauma recover.
- Self-esteemSelf esteem, Self-worthThe overall opinion you hold of your own worth. Low self-esteem is common and can change; it is not a diagnosis, though it often travels with depression and anxiety.
- Emotional regulationEmotion regulation, Emotional dysregulationThe ability to notice, understand and manage emotions — how strongly they are felt, how long they last and how they are expressed — so they do not take over. It is a skill that can be learned.
- Adverse childhood experiencesACEs, ACE scorePotentially traumatic events in the first 18 years of life, such as abuse, neglect or violence at home. They raise the risk of later health problems, but they do not decide a child's future.