Bridging Engineering and Psychology to Model Human Resilience in Real Time

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel interdisciplinary framework for quantifying psychological resilience through the lens of structural engineering. We define a Mental Safety Factor (mSF) as the ratio between an individual’s coping capacity and their perceived psychological load, paralleling the classical safety factor used to prevent structural failure in engineering. Psychological phenomena such as stress, strain, fatigue, and breakdown are analogized to their mechanical counterparts (e.g., yield, creep, fracture), providing an intuitive and mathematically grounded model of resilience. Supported by emerging physiological data, including heart rate variability (HRV), EEG patterns, and cortisol dynamics, this framework offers a quantifiable and visual tool for understanding and monitoring resilience. The mSF model opens avenues for empirical research, simulation, and potential real-time implementation in digital mental health tools such as wearable devices and adaptive coaching systems.