Enhancing Resilience and Sustaining Recovery

Promoting resilience in persons with serious mental health conditions during the Coronavirus pandemic.

“…When intervening, however, it is critical to distinguish optimism from beliefs and appraisals that are not reality based (e.g., grandiose delusions; Bortolon et al, 2019). Key positive psychology interventions during the pandemic for the target population may include providing psychoeducation on the impact of COVID-19 related stress on mental health to promote a sense of predictability, control, and hope that stresses can be managed; offering gratitude exercises to heighten awareness of positive aspects of life in stressful times; facilitating values-based goal setting and action; identifying and exercising personal strengths; reenvisioning stressors as opportunities for growth; engaging in activities that yield meaning, including acts of kindness; and illuminating conditions and facts that engender positive expectations about the future (Franczak et al, 2016; Geerling et al, 2020).…”

“…Given that higher levels of spirituality are endorsed by those persons with serious mental health conditions who are resilient (Mizuno et al, 2016), interventions for people who embrace spirituality should target increasing and capitalizing on their spiritual strengths as key resources for coping with stress related to COVID-19 (Franczak et al, 2016). A recent review of spiritually informed interventions for persons with serious mental health conditions revealed that such approaches are consistently associated with positive outcomes, including lower levels of psychotic symptoms and recovery, and show no evidence of being harmful (Turner & Hodge, 2020).…”

“…Cognitive adaptation training, which involves providing environmental supports in the person’s residence, has the strongest empirical support for addressing the self-care and functional problems common to persons with serious mental health conditions (Birken et al, 2021). In addition, health promotion intervention strategies effective in bolstering self-care and buffering against exacerbation and/or relapse of medical or psychological difficulties among persons with serious mental health conditions are critically important in the COVID-19 environment, and include physical activity, healthy eating, restful sleep, and tobacco cessation (Chen & Bonanno, 2020; Franczak et al, 2016; Romain et al, 2020). Pacing and routine in this population also engender order and structure and promote self-efficacy related to self-care (Henderson & Cock, 2015).…”

Daasachchuchik: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Developing a Chronic Illness Self-Management Program for the Apsáalooke People

“…Regarding CI self-management, strengthening resilience increases one's ability to take action towards daily care of one's illness and gaining mastery in overcoming challenges effectively. 16 The program employs a group intervention method that highlights key features for addressing traumas through sharing and validating participant experiences. 38 The approach we describe has implications for informing implementation science in the context of tribal communities' development of effective CI and other health-related interventions.…”

“…15 In the context of CI self-management, resilient individuals have greater capacity to notice and understand the nuances of their illness, become more active in their care, and demonstrate greater mastery over emotional responses to CI-related stressors. 16 For many AI communities, cultural resilience also may play a strong role in individuals' ability to become better CI self-managers. For example, values and beliefs rooted in spirituality, respect for family, the natural environment, and cultural traditions may improve community members' ability to manage a CI.…”