> Clinical psychologist Camilo Ortiz, a professor at Long Island University-Post, began noticing a few years ago that some of his young patients, mostly children being treated for anxiety, would “fold very quickly” at the first sign of adversity

This is a perfect description of someone I met recently on a road trip with friends. From our first encounter he came off as feeling miserable and sorry for himself. He didn’t drink so he was the DD for our group, but he was a nervous driver and when we hit the freeway he got so nervous he was afraid to take his eyes off the road in front and wouldn’t shoulder check. Instead of confronting him and hurting his feelings we let him keep driving and we would shoulder check for him. Very dangerous and we knew it.

When we had the accident, it was minor and happened because he froze up at the wheel during a turn and continued on to hit a tree. Saddest, slowest accident I’ve ever seen or will be a part of and no one was really hurt. My immediate reaction from military and first aid training was to get all the other passengers to safety and make sure they weren’t injured. Meanwhile, he got out of the car, burst out sobbing, and literally ran away crying.

Anecdotal, but I think the lack of mental resilience and emotional resilience were strongly connected in his case.