Predictors, daily correlates, and effects on future functioning of resilience in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Abstract

Background: Psychological resilience, as a potential protective factor, has been linked to enhanced wellbeing and reduced psychopathology. This study investigated the predictors, associations, and prospective effects of resilience to daily hassles in both short-term (across days) and long-term (across months) contexts. Methods: Daily resilience was measured through self-reported abilities to cope with daily hassles on a day-to-day basis for 30 days using Experience Sampling Methods in a sample of 86 outpatients diagnosed with depression. Results: Daily resilience correlated with baseline depression (r = -0.31; p < .001), but not with the five other personal and social resources we investigated. As hypothesized, daily resilience co-varied with daily wellbeing on a day-to-day basis (p = <0.001), was predictive of shifts in wellbeing across days (p = <0.01), and associated with patients’ improvements in depression and dysfunction three months later (B = -0.48 & -0.49; p < .001) and six months later (B = -0.55 & -0.57; p < .001). Limitations: It should be noted that the study's participants were recruited from a larger Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), and approximately 40% of patients experienced daily hassles. Despite this limitation, the findings suggest that daily resilience may hold promise as a crucial factor to inform intervention strategies and programs aimed at preventing depression relapse. Conclusion: Daily resilience may well be a promising factor to inform intervention strategies and programmes that aim to prevent (relapse of) depression.

Keywords

• Depression
• Dysfunction
• Resilience
• Wellbeing
• Mental health
• Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)