The effect of resilience on bipolar mood during specialty clinic treatment.

BACKGROUND

Limitations in mental health resources behoove exploration of factors that may enhance treatment response. One such factor, resilience, has been minimally examined in bipolar disorder.

METHODS

With multi-level modeling of clinical care data, we examined associations among longitudinal measurements of resilience and mood rating trajectories in a sample of 100 individuals with bipolar disorder during 6 weeks of evidence-based pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy.

RESULTS

Individuals with high self-care subscale scores from the Resilience Questionnaire for Bipolar Disorder exhibited an improving rate of depression change -0.18 (SE = 0.04, p < .001) completing treatment with a subthreshold depression rating of 3.1 (SE = 1.39, p < .05). In contrast, treatment recipients who disagreed or were neutral towards self-care experienced worsening or no change in depression, respectively. This subscale also decreased mood elevation. Each one-point increase yielded a -0.27 (SE = 0.13 p < .05) point decrease in mania.

LIMITATIONS: Resilience may develop longitudinally. In this study, it was examined during active treatment which was a relatively brief period of time.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher bipolar resilience could identify individuals more likely to exhibit improvement in mood during bipolar specialty clinic treatment.