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.