Positive Psychology Center trains army officers in resilience

The United States has the most physically fit army in the world. Now, it wants the most mentally fit.

Over the next two weeks, researchers from the Penn Positive Psychology Center will train 155 Army non-commissioned officers and family members in “Master Resilience Training” in an attempt to bring them up to that psychological standard.

The training is part of the Army’s experimental Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program, a long-term effort to monitor and improve the mental health of soldiers.

“It has to do with improving people’s response to whatever stress they come upon,” said Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, director of CSF, “whether it’s taking an exam or about to do an operation or run a marathon or whatever stress they are about to embark upon.”

The eight-day training program is designed to help soldiers recognize strengths, improve leadership skills and identify and dismiss the unrealistic thoughts that result from stress.

For Sergeant First Class Rebekah James, the last technique has already proved useful.

“The tools that they’re giving us are letting us stop our thought process and say, ‘Why am I acting like this? It’s just somebody honking their horn at me. Why am I getting so mad?’’’ James said. “It’s helping us understand our reactions and where they’re coming from.”

The collaboration between the University and the Army grew out of the Penn Resiliency Program, a ten-year effort by the PPC to train West Philadelphia public-school teachers to promote resilience in their students.

In August 2008, the program was identified as potentially useful to the Army and brought to the attention of Cornum.

Since then, Cornum and PPC Director Martin Seligman have worked to design the CSF program and tailor the techniques of the resilience program to better fit the Army’s needs.

The ultimate goal is to enable the Army to teach its own soldiers how to manage stress on an ongoing basis, Seligman said.

The PPC will withdraw as soon as they are confident that the Army is delivering training of a high-enough quality, he said. Psychologists from the Army and other institutions are expected to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the program.

Contrary to the stereotype of the stoic soldier, most sergeants trained so far have embraced the program.

Command Sergeant Major Teresa King, commander of the Drill Sergeant School, has been one of the most fervent converts. She said she has already incorporated MRT into her curriculum.

“One of the things we were worried about when we started the pilots was that these tough sergeants would say, ‘Oh, this is girly, touchy-feely stuff, we don’t want it,’” Seligman said. “What we’ve been getting is, ‘This toughens us. This is resilience, this is something I need, my family needs, each of us needs.’”

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