Research has shown that the state of your mental health has an impact on your physical health; thus, ameliorating mental health problems might improve physical health, extend lifespan, and reduce healthcare costs. Not every tool or practice works for every person. It takes some experimentation to learn which techniques effectively calm your fight-or-flight response and engage your rest-and-digest recovery system. Those who are willing to try might just gain a competitive edge. Mentally strong people are willing to learn new modes of self-development, adapt to our constantly changing world, take responsibility for their improvements and periodic failures, and assume control of their lives. They do not let negative environments or distractions deter them from their goals. The research-based practices here are divided into exercises that address specific obstacles to mental strength (perfectionism, imposter syndrome, pessimism, emotion regulation, and self-awareness of introversion, extroversion, and neurosignature strengths) and proactive strategies to empower your rest-and-digest system (growth mindset, mindfulness, meditation, nature therapy, creative play, and interacting with dogs).

This chapter addresses how DPs’ physical and mental needs were assessed in the French zone and how relief workers responded to them. It considers what ‘rehabilitation’ meant to occupation officials and relief workers and what ‘therapies’ and ‘rehabilitative’ treatments they experimented. It focuses, in particular, on the hopes that they invested the remedial effects of the nuclear family and explores how DPs respond to these various experiments and gendered expectations. In the French zone, the emphasis was mainly placed on vocational rehabilitation, the re-education of mothers and rest in the countryside as a means to improve mental and physical health. The range of treatment offered revealed the influence of the inter-war ‘social hygiene’ crusade, occupational therapy and the professional reorientation movement. Crucially, this chapter uncovers the tensions between the utilitarian (turning DPs into productive future citizens) and recreational (providing soothing and restful activities) roles of rehabilitation, between the disciplinary (controlling DPs’ bodies) and empowering nature (encouraging DPs’ expression and initiatives) of relief activities.