Reflecting on Resilience at Mount Sinai During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dennis S. Charney, MD, has dedicated over 30 years to studying resilience, a journey he shared with his late colleague, Steven M. Southwick, MD. "Studying resilience has been an awesome experience for me as a person, but also it led to a lot of ideas on how you can make people more resilient to handle the ultimate challenges that we all face," Charney explained.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Mount Sinai Hospital found itself at the heart of the crisis. "In a sense, we were the epicenter of the epicenter. You know, at one point, we had over 2000 patients with COVID in our hospital," he recalled. The situation was dire—without a treatment or vaccine in the early days, frontline health care workers faced immense stress and emotional turmoil. Adding to the hardship, patients' families were not allowed in hospital rooms for fear of spreading the virus. "So it was, it was a terrible time," Charney admitted.

Recognizing the toll on health care workers, Charney and his team swiftly established a Center for Resilience and Personal Growth. "One of the things we did right away, in part, you know, based on my experience in studying resilience, we created a center for resilience, personal growth for our frontline health care staff of all, all types that were involved in treating patients," he said. The center provided free mental health support for those grappling with anxiety, depression, and stress, along with workshops to help build resilience.

The experience at Mount Sinai inspired Charney and his colleagues to write Relentless, a book capturing the perseverance of health care workers during the pandemic. "Even that title captured what our frontline health care workers, you know, were providing to very sick patients," he noted. Despite the immense stress, Charney reassured Mount Sinai’s staff that their response to the crisis would be a lasting source of pride. "What I would say to a lot of our staff, faculty, students, that while this was an incredibly stressful time, the way you responded, you will, you will look back on that and be proud, you know, for the rest of your life."

This is part 3 of a multipart video series. You can watch part 1 here and part 2 here.

Dr Charney is the dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is the author of Neurobiology of Mental Illness, The Physician’s Guide to Depression and Bipolar Disorders, and Molecular Biology for the Clinician. He is a professor of psychiatry, neuroscience, and pharmacology and systems therapeutics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.