Stress and trauma are ubiquitous in human life and can be ever present within the military operational environment. Though major developments have advanced our understanding of the nature, causes and consequences of stress and trauma within the military operational environment, less attention has been devoted to uncovering factors that may influence the building of emotional strengths, the development, maintenance, and enhancement of resilience, and on factors that may buffer the effects of harmful stress. Estrada et al. (Citation2016) have noted that resilience has become increasingly popular among scientists, practitioners, and the general public. Indeed, much has been learned about the nature and impact of resilience at the individual level of analysis (Britt et al., Citation2016; Meredith et al., Citation2011; Wald et al., Citation2006) and a nascent literature is beginning to uncover its importance at the collective level of analysis (Alliger et al., Citation2015; Bowers et al., Citation2017; Severt & Estrada, Citation2015). For military organizations that employ individuals, teams, and units to work in austere conditions which require resilience to achieve success, this is an imperative to ensure optimal performance and mission success. Given the many implications that resilience may have on individuals, families, communities, teams, and organizations, it is important to examine how resilience and strength-based responses to stress and trauma can inform, influence and impact military personnel.
This special issue begins to address this gap in our knowledge by focusing on factors influencing resilience and strengths-based responses to stress and trauma. We sought a broad array of submissions including original articles, reviews, and theoretical papers on resilience and strength-building with particular focus on active military personnel and settings, mindfulness and well-being, intervention and inoculation and special forces training. After sending out a call for papers, we were extremely pleased to receive a robust response that yielded a large number of submissions – over 200 proposals were received that were rich and diverse in terms of topic areas and scientific quality!
Papers in this special issue section include studies examining programs designed to enhance the resilience of military personnel (McInerney et al., Citation2024), as well as programs and interventions focusing on combat and operational stress (Cooper et al., Citation2024) and cognitive agility training for special operators and their spouses (LaCroix et al., Citation2024). Papers in this special issue section also include studies examining associations between deployment and posttraumatic growth (Farero et al., Citation2024), mindfulness and resilience in Navy SEAL training (Ledford et al., Citation2024), and how humor, morale and cohesion are related to posttraumatic stress symptoms (Ward et al., Citation2024). The diverse nature of topics and approaches represented in this collection attest to the robust nature of the science and practice of psychology within the military environment. The collection of papers comprising this special issue section includes examples of cutting-edge programs, as well as research on predictors of resilience and strength-based responses to stress and trauma within the military environment.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
References
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