Abstract

Interest in studies examining the psychological resilience of individuals with chronic mental illness and their caregivers has been increasing. This study aimed is to investigate psychological resilience and burnout in individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD) in the euthymic phase, their caregivers, and healthy controls who are attending our clinic, and to compare these three groups with each other based on these variables. After obtaining approval from the ethics committee, a total of 114 participants were included in the study. This group comprised 38 individuals previously diagnosed with BD who presented to the Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic of the Kahramanmaraş Sutcu Imam University Health Practice and Research Hospital between March and December 2022 and consented to participate; 38 caregivers of individuals with BD; and 38 healthy controls with no personal or first-degree family history of BD. Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) were applied to evaluate the remission of patients. Participants were administered a Socio-demographic Data Form (for patients, caregivers, and controls), the Psychological Resilience Scale for Adults (PRSA) and the Maslach Burnout Scale (MBS). There was a significant difference in the total score of PRSA between the BD patient group (PRSA-total score: 109.4±22) and the caregiver group (PRSA-total score: 122.8±14) and the healthy control group (PRSA-total score: 129.6±17). It was found that the psychological resilience levels of the control group were higher than those of the patients and caregivers. There was a significant difference in the total score of MBS between the groups, and this difference was due to the difference between the patient group (MBS-total score: 34.3±13) and the caregiver group (MBS-total score: 25.1±9.6) and the control group (MBS-total score: 26.6±10.5). Patients with BD were found to have lower levels of psychological resilience and higher levels of burnout compared to their caregivers and the control group. This situation has also been associated with certain clinical data and sociodemographic characteristics. Although caregivers of patients with BD were found to have lower levels of psychological resilience compared to the control group, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of burnout. Increasing psychological resilience and developing coping strategies for burnout will positively impact the functionality of both the patient and the caregiver.

Key words: Bipolar disorder, psychological resilience, caregivers, burnout