American soldiers are to undergo training in mental toughness or "resiliency" as part of the Army's larger "Comprehensive Soldier Fitness" program, that aims to ensure troops' mental toughness matches their physical toughness.
According to a bulletin posted on 19 August, the first part of the program has already started: some 100 unit leaders and drill sergeants have just completed the first of two classes in learning to teach "master resilience training" to their units. The classes are taught at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where Martin Seligman, renowned for his work on optimism and positive thinking, heads the Positive Psychology Center.
According to an AFP news agency report, the classes draw on over 20 years of Seligman's research and teach soldiers how to change the way they think learn to apply optimism to problems and avoid getting trapped in self-defeating thoughts.
Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, director of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness told the press that the solider trainers are:
"Learning all the different thinking skills, and how to impart them to other people."
She said resiliency training will help soldiers put worries about money, relationships, health and even tragedy on the battlefield into perspective.
Another part of the program is self-guided learning, and soldiers will also undergo online assessments during the basic training and then every two years afterwards.
Mental fitness is like physical fitness: life-long and ongoing, said Cornum.
"Resilience is a way of thinking -- you apply optimistic thinking to a problem," said Cornum. "It teaches you to remember that problems are temporary, that they are local," said Cornum explaining that while some people are naturally resistant thinkers, others can become so with training.
Cornum said every platoon sergeant and drill sergeant will undergo the master training.
"It's tools, thinking tools, how not to fall into thinking traps or catastrophic thinking," said Cornum.
Summarized from "American Soldiers To Undergo Mental Toughness Training"
by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
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