Resilience in Bipolar Disorder Compared to Clinical and Non-Clinical Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Resilience is present in both clinical and non-clinical populations; yet, there is a paucity of literature examining its role in bipolar disorder (BD). The goal of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to substantiate the extant literature investigating resilience in BD in comparison to clinical and non-clinical populations. Method: PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Scopus were systematically searched from inception to August 8th, 2024. Results: Twenty-eight studies using a validated resilience scale with a total of 3094 people with BD, 4100 healthy controls, and 1768 with other mental diagnoses were included in the systematic review, and 21 were analyzed in a random effects meta-analysis. A statistically significant result with a medium effect (SMD = −0.787, p < 0.001) indicated that people with BD reported lower levels of resilience than healthy controls. Similarly, patients with BD showed higher levels of resilience than patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) (SMD = 0.336, p = 0.013). No significant differences were found between BD and major depressive disorder (MDD). Conclusion: Findings should be interpreted with caution due to the high heterogeneity observed and methodological challenges in the definition and measurement of resilience. Future research should aim to better characterize resilience in BD by improving its assessment as a standardized element of clinical evaluation. This will provide a basis for strategies to reduce the burden of this chronic condition.