Immunity to Chaos: How Personal Resources Help Us Cope with the Challenges of a Turbulent World
International conflicts, crises and digital overload—the modern world puts our minds to the test every day. Traditional psychology often focuses on the consequences: anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic disorders. But what if we looked at the problem differently—through the lens of the resources that prevent us from breaking down? Psychological immunity is precisely this set of resources. Alena Zolotareva and her group, Psychological Immunity as a Resource for Positive Functioning, are developing an integrative model of this phenomenon, adapting diagnostic tools and preparing for large-scale empirical research. Why do psychologists need to collaborate with medical professionals, and how could their research transform preventive care in clinics and corporations?
Alena Zolotareva is Associate Professor at the School of Psychology of the HSE Faculty of Social Sciences. This article continues the Schola series on the projects of new research and study groups (RSGs) at HSE University.
— How did the idea for the project come about?
— This project is a continuation of last year’s project. Last year, my team and I reviewed and analysed current research into psychosomatic disorders and concluded that a comprehensive understanding of the nature of psychosomatic illnesses is only possible if, alongside people’s deficits, we also study their resources. Psychosomatic disorders have traditionally been studied within the framework of psychopathology, whereas we hypothesised that psychological immunity, understood as a set of personal resources, can both prevent the development of certain illnesses and help people cope with the challenges posed by existing illnesses.
— What are the aims and objectives of your research and study group?
— The concept of psychological immunity is relatively new. It entered scientific discourse in the early 2000s, and since then only a few of individual studies have been conducted on the subject. Our aim is to develop an integrative model of psychological immunity. In addition, we plan to study the role of psychological immunity in coping with difficult life circumstances.
— How would you explain the relevance of the project?
— The project is particularly relevant because people today are facing what is known as global instability: amid military conflicts, economic crises, and accelerated digital transformation, the mental health of individuals and communities is exposed to serious threats. Developing the concept of psychological immunity could help us devise new approaches to strengthening mental health and enhancing psychological wellbeing.
— What results do you expect to achieve?
— Our main goal is to gain a deep and comprehensive understanding of how psychological immunity works: under what conditions it develops, what methods can be used to support it, and what should be done when it fails to cope with the challenges of everyday life. We have created several tasks that will bring us closer to this understanding. In particular, we are currently working intensively on adapting psychodiagnostic tools designed to assess psychological immunity. These tools will subsequently be used in empirical studies of psychological immunity conducted by our team.
— What difficulties have you already encountered, or do you expect to encounter, while implementing the project?
— The difficulties we have encountered and, I think, will continue to encounter are quite typical of psychological research. Above all, we are seeing respondent fatigue with surveys in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when psychologists conducted a large number of studies. As a result, we have to put a great deal of effort into finding respondents and motivating them to take part.
Another difficulty is that the concept of psychological immunity is, in essence, interdisciplinary, which means that it must also be studied through an interdisciplinary approach. We are now beginning to collaborate with specialists in the medical sciences and plan to study the links between psychological immunity and biomedical indicators. We lack funding to conduct larger-scale studies. However, we plan to overcome these difficulties—in particular, we are preparing to apply for a grant from the Russian Science Foundation.
— How were the participants selected for the project? Could you tell us about the key members of the team?
— As I have already mentioned, the current project actually continues last year’s project, which focused on a theoretical review of psychosomatic research in Russia. Our entire team moved on to the current project, and I consider all its members to be key participants, so I would like to tell you about each of them. Our research and study group includes three PhD students from the Doctoral School of Psychology: Daria Belosludtseva, Elena Koreneva, and Yulia Chernukhina. They successfully combine work on their PhD theses, which focus on issues of health and wellbeing, with their work in the RSG. In addition, our team includes three students from the School of Psychology: Alisa Nikitina, Irina Panitsyna, and Khariton Kulizhnikov. They are planning to enrol in our PhD programme and are also successfully combining work on several research projects. Finally, this year Elena Kazennaya joined our team. She is a well-known specialist in the psychology of extreme situations and in the psychology and psychotherapy of trauma. She is also someone who shares my outlook and my approach to science.
— What are the prospects for your project?
— The project has prospects in several areas. Its academic prospects are linked to the fact that the concept of psychological immunity will, for the first time in Russia, be studied systematically. The results of our research could provide a basis for new academic developments in clinical psychology, psychophysiology, and psychosomatic medicine. The project’s practical prospects are associated with the possible integration of the concept into psychological prevention and counselling programmes. We assume that psychological immunity is dynamic in nature and may respond to therapeutic and preventive interventions. As for its commercial prospects, we see them in introducing practices aimed at developing psychological immunity into health promotion programmes implemented both by the state and by various medical organisations. I would like our research to develop in all these areas and to have not only academic but also practical applications.
See the original interview in Russian on Schola.
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