The role of self-understanding in resilient individuals: the development of a perspective

Three studies are reviewed in which an in-depth life-history approach was used, and in which a strong connection was demonstrated between self-understanding and resilience. Subjects were civil rights workers in the South, survivors of childhood cancer, and adolescents whose parents had serious affective disorders. Dimensions of the concept of self-understanding which are evident in all three investigations are explored, and the study of resilience as part of an integrative approach to the understanding of human behavior is outlined.