This collection provides readers with an opportunity to consider the issue of mental health and resilience from various perspectives. It examines numerous concepts of resilience as they relate to patterns of adaptation in adverse contexts. Consequently, resilience can be conceived by readers as good adaptation, effective coping, or well-being attained despite adversity.

Referring to a class of complex phenomena, resilience is not only a basic category for developmental psychopathology and positive psychology but also applies to developmental, educational, family, and health psychology, as well as to psychoneuroimmunology. The chapters in this book address the issue of resilience from either the nomothetic or the idiographic perspective. They discuss theoretical models of resilience, investigate mechanisms and processes connected with health and resilience, scrutinize various aspects of the latter (such as risk and protective factors or internal and external resources), and provide examples of support in difficult life circumstances.

Resilience and Health in a Fast-Changing World draws on theoretical investigation as well as empirical research to provide answers to key questions concerning psychological resilience. What decides whether a person suffering misfortune bounces back quickly or falls into despair for years? Which processes and mechanisms constitute psychological resilience? Is there a particular model of human adaptation shaped by evolutionary processes that would enable a person to maintain mental health in unfavorable and changing circumstances? This volume is informative for both academics and practitioners.