Abstract
It has been called 'ordinary magic'. It occurs in situations where people achieve a good outcome despite being faced with extreme hardship. This is resilient coping. In this article, Max Hopwood, a researcher from the National Centre in HIV Social Research, discusses findings from studies which highlight how people are usually very resourceful, drawing on their experience and expertise to help them get through often very difficult situations. To illustrate, he presents evidence of resilient coping during hepatitisC treatment among people who had acquired hepatitisC from injecting drugs.