In psychology, resilience is the ability to cope with difficult situations and rebound from setbacks. Resilient people can adapt to change and overcome challenges. They understand how past traumatic experiences can have lingering effects on their well-being, and how confronting them makes it easier to maintain a positive outlook on life and bounce back from adversity.
Building resilience can help us deal with difficult emotions such as anxiety and depression, life transitions such as starting a new school or divorce, or the everyday stressors of navigating difficult times. It helps us become better, stronger versions of ourselves.
But what does the alternative look like?
Unfortunately, unchecked trauma often manifests in the form of substance abuse, mental illness, and addiction. Self-medicating with drugs and alcohol is a common coping mechanism for those suffering from the aftereffects of trauma. And about a quarter of the population will encounter a traumatic incident throughout their lifetimes.
This makes resilience training especially important for young people. Some resilience interventions focus on teaching coping skills, such as problem-solving and emotional regulation. Others provide support, community, education, and positive role models. In the latter category, you’ll find our student-led podcast: The Resilience Zone.
This year, The Resilience Zone podcast launched its second season. Host Anyia Hardy, a Junior at Tarboro High School, sat down with experts and ordinary high school students to have honest conversations about mental illness, trauma, substance abuse, and resilience. Anyia has continued the tradition of The Resilience Zone by taking over as host from El and Gabby, its original student hosts, who graduated from Tarboro High School in 2022.
To kick off the season, she interviewed Dr. Stephen Loyd, a doctor whose emotional pain led him to abuse opioids for decades. His recovery reshaped his approach to life and work. He shared his thoughts on topics such as trauma, substance abuse, why resilience is so important, and how he manages to stay resilient during challenging times.
The Story of Dr. Stephen Loyd
Dr. Loyd grew up in rural Tennessee, and by every outside definition, he was a huge success. Not only was he the first person in his family to go to college, he successfully completed medical school and secured a career as a doctor. He was particularly interested in studying addiction habits in pregnant women.
Beneath the surface, however, Dr. Loyd’s life was far from rosy. He was coping with the effects of unaddressed PTSD, because during his childhood, he had experienced physical and sexual abuse by a family member. The pain of the experience and his lack of community led Dr. Loyd to become addicted to opiates. He shared that he would steal from his parents, and even other people, to get money to buy drugs.
He said the most challenging step in his recovery was the initial one: telling someone about his abuse.
There are undoubtedly young people listening to The Resilience Zone who are experiencing difficulties at home and don’t want anyone to know about it because, like Dr. Loyd, they may believe the problem originated with them and not their abuser. Or, perhaps their abuser is in a position of power, like Dr. Loyd’s abusive family member.
Although he never imagined any good would come from telling anyone about his abuse, Dr. Loyd now wants young people to know how important it is to speak up and tell the truth about what is happening.
He likened his recovery journey to a sentiment shared by one of his own lifelong role models, Muhammad Ali. Ali famously said, “There’s nothing wrong with getting knocked down, as long as you get right back up.” For Dr. Loyd, getting back up required simply sharing his story. That was the hardest part. It was the beginning of a better life, free from substance abuse.
Now a father, Dr. Loyd advocates for a better understanding of addiction and its causes. He said people shouldn’t use narcotics to deal with stress, but that they also shouldn’t be judged. They simply have the wrong solution (substance abuse) to a very real problem (unaddressed traumatic experiences.) Even if drugs seem to provide temporary relief for emotional pain, abusing them only makes it worse.
Dr. Loyd pointed out that many effective treatments exist for PTSD and other mental health concerns that can aid recovery and healing. He hopes that through his research, he can help other families struggling with addiction. If people have trouble overcoming their trauma, he said, they should consider counseling.
What’s Next for the Podcast
In the next episode, Anyia talks to another mental health expert… who also happens to be her former school counselor! Later, along with more experts, you’ll get to hear Anyia chat with her own fellow high school students at Tarboro High School, who speak with honesty about the substance abuse they witness daily and how it impacts their loved ones.
Resilient young people are less likely to use drugs than their less resilient peers. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, depression, or other difficult mental health challenges, we hope that this season of the podcast will provide some insight and inspiration.
The Resilience Zone is a Rural Opportunity Institute project, funded by Area L AHEC.
Stream it now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or iHeartRadio.
Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Attn: Rural Opportunity Institute (ROI)
Area L AHEC
1631 S Wesleyan Blvd
Rocky Mount, NC 27803
Email: info@ruralopportunity.org
Email: naomi@ruralopportunity.org
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