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Film Review Resilience: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope (2016) by James Redford (Director) Carol Campbell Edwards1

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Prompting an emergence of research and social work practice on trauma and children is the landmark study of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). First published in 1998, the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) was a simple but profound investigation that has revolutionized how we understand the relationship between childhood and long-term health as adults. Led by researchers Dr. Vincent Felitti and Dr. Robert Anda, the ACE Study surveyed more than 17,000 adults, between 1995 and 1997 utilizing a questionnaire reporting traumatic experiences during childhood. Almost two-thirds (63.9%) of participants reported having one or more adverse childhood experiences. One in eight participants (12.5%) reported having four or more ACEs. Researchers found strong dose–response relationships between the number of ACEs and the risk of disease (Center for Youth Wellness [CYW], 2017). Co-principal Investigators of the ACE Study, Felitti and Anda, found a strong graded relationship between the breadth of exposure to abuse or household dysfunction during childhood and multiple risk factors for several of the leading causes of death in adults (Felitti et al., 1998). The film, Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope, is the second part in a documentary duo that chronicles Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The first film, Paper Tigers, provided viewers with innovative research that undeniably magnified the national conversation around ACEs and spurred critical thinking among researchers, practitioners, medical professionals and others. Equipped with knowledge regarding the impact of an overstimulated fight or flight response, there were more questions than answers. Now, Resilience, advances the dialogue by introducing interventions and strategies that transcend perceived trauma-related limitations.

* Carol Campbell Edwards [email protected] 1



Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Framing our understanding of trauma is the belief that it is not the stressful experience itself that exacerbates the stressful response. We now know that it is how the individual’s body, mind and spirit responds to that stress. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris described the most vivid example of this trichotomy in the film as she instructs viewers to imagine being chased by a bear, and the fight or flight response is activated to support survival. However, if that same response occurs repeatedly when the bear is not present, the experience of toxic stress is exacerbated (Redford & Pritzker, 2016). The individual’s ability to learn, think, feel, and behave is compromised by a persistent internal alarm. Toxic stress caused by ACEs can profoundly alter the otherwise healthy development of a child. As Dr. Robert W. Block, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, noted, “Children’s exposure to Adverse Childhood Ex