Role of Resilience and Sense of Coherence in Subjective Improvement of Psychiatric Patients

In the field of mental health, there is an increasing acknowledgement of the role of human strengths and potentials, which helps most people to not only manage their lives with its limitations but also flourish in their lives. Thus, it becomes imperative to study the role of such strengths in the clinical population. Therefore, the current study investigated the role of resilience and sense of coherence in subjective improvement and quality of life in people diagnosed with common mental disorders. A sample of 30 patients (15 males & 15 females), diagnosed with either anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder and undergoing psychotherapy along with pharmacotherapy for the last one year, were selected for the study. Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and Antonovsky's Orientation to Life Questionnaire were administered to assess resilience and sense of coherence, respectively. Visual Analogue Scale for assessing subjective improvement in illness symptoms, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Abbreviated Questionnaire for the assessment of quality of life were used. Results indicated that patients with high resilience and high sense of coherence reported higher levels of improvement in their symptoms and quality of life. However, resilience was a better predictor for both improvement in illness and quality of life.