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The just-released HBO Max documentary, "Expecting Amy," chronicles comedian Amy Schumer's recent pregnancy, and offers not just predictably high doses of humor and charm, but some vivid portrayals of psychological resiliency.
Resiliency is one piece of a two-part equation. It's not simply the presence of psychological strength or skillfulness; it's an ability to bounce back, to quickly and effectively adapt to harsh circumstances. As such, for resiliency to emerge, there must unfortunately also be the external condition of life stress, adversity, or more severely, trauma. Just as general psychological growth is inexplicably intertwined with anxiety, so too is resiliency with external stress.
With "Expecting Amy" there's a compelling amount of stress and resilient responses to that stress. At the core of this narrative is Amy Schumer's impressive stamina and persistence, as we watch her somehow successfully balance a grueling stand-up comedy tour (which culminated in the 2019 Netflix special “Growing”) along with a uniquely painful pregnancy experience (google "hyperemesis gravidarum" to learn more). The depths of her vulnerability can be considered another marker of resiliency, as she offers a bravely unfiltered and non-judgmental view of herself via social media posts depicting emotional and physical “rock bottom” moments. We see Amy Schumer highly stressed and strained, but able to tolerate, endure, and flexibly bounce back.
There are situational ingredients to the recipe of resiliency as well like social support, which psychological research dating back decades has validated as a common underlying factor of resiliency. Even a single meaningful friendship, for instance, has been linked to myriad positive health outcomes. In "Expecting Amy," we see an intimate and extensive support network of family and friends, and virtuous cycles of this network's love, effort, and supportiveness in conjunction with Amy's palpable appreciation, all of which fuels her with the needed mental energy to endure the extensive work and medical strain filmed during this documentary. In this vein, "Expecting Amy" lightly spotlights the relationship with her husband. Their marital quality appears to reflect yet another marker or source of resilience and psychological health. They show a good fit, and some complementary and mutually healthy conflict-resolution tendencies (e.g. her keen observations of his mild autistic tendencies, and his patient reliability).
All in all, this documentary serves not just as quality entertainment but offers some helpful tales of resiliency during a time in which there is an intense public need. As these pandemic times unfold with inherent alarm and uncertainty, resiliency is a sorely needed character and societal virtue, but it may also reflect an inadvertent silver lining. While there are certainly some of us that may struggle or become overwhelmed by the anxiety, exhaustion, and vigilance of pandemic coping, many of us (perhaps all of us over the long-term) will endure and ultimately harden in a healthy way. Where there is significant pain and loss, there is also the underlying growth of wisdom and perspective; a strengthened bounce-back capacity that will serve as well in the face of the life adversity waiting around the corner.
