Scar tissue is associated with physical wounds and their mending, but it is also descriptive in portraying the emotional scarring that occurs following adversity, resulting in potential psychological morbidity. Provided the adversity is not severe, such challenges to adaptability may provoke Andrew Solomon’s process of forging meaning and building identity. Perceiving an emotional constitution as analogous to the immune system provides a metaphor for appreciating the benefits of emotional challenges, which may provoke greater emotional resilience or posttraumatic growth.
Berns, N. (2011). Closure: The rush to end grief and what it costs us. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. [This sentiment is likewise presented in Berns’ book with compassion and insight. After examining the ways in which people have sought closure after death (funeral), a divorce (burying wedding rings), an offense (litigation), etc., Berns has found that closure is an intention that likely does not exist.].
3.
BrooksD. (2015) The road to character, New York: Random House.
Epley, N. (2014). Mindwise: How we understand what others think, believe, feel, and want. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. [Epley provides an explanation for this neural process.].
Friedman, E. (1995). Maturity is taking responsibility for one’s own emotional well being and destiny (class notes).
8.
GriffithJ. (2010) Religion that heals, religion that harms, New York: Guilford Press. [Agency is acting in the expectation that one’s actions can make a meaningful difference. Helplessness expects one’s actions will make no difference.].
