Urgent Need For Building Resilience

Covid-19: Building Resilience

Key Points

Highlight:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an intervention tool that helps people to build resilience.

Importance:

• Due to Covid-19, the general public may be experiencing more psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, and distress. 

• The federal and state governments’ mandates to stay at home is useful for limiting the spread of the virus. However, increased isolation and unemployment may increase emotional health issues for those with psychological disorders and chronic diseases. 

What's Done Here:

• This is an editorial where authors cite scientific papers which demonstrate how resilience is a key tool for people suffering from chronic diseases, psychological disorders, and stress. 

Limitations:

• Though the authors mention that CBT is low-cost, they fail to cite sources that support this claim. 

• The authors did not mention why exactly CBT IS ideal, versus other therapeutic tools.

Lay Summary

According to Naeem et al.’s article, “Coping with Covid”, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the ideal intervention tool to increase resilience. Their study has recently been published in "Kyber Medical University Journal".

The authors investigate the psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the general public and demonstrate how CBT can help alleviate the negative valence of people's moods, emotions, and attitudes. They also define how resilience can help people cope with their current situations. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a useful intervention tool because it can be provided through the internet, and has been adapted for use across many different cultures. Most importantly, the authors claim that CBT increases resilience in patients. 

The authors argue that resilience, which is defined as the ability to recover readily from adversity, is a trait that has a positive impact on people’s health. Resilience can allow people to manage stress, anxiety, depression, and other chronic conditions. It is also a protective factor against the development of various debilitating conditions. For example, for many people suffering from psychological disorders such as anxiety or depression, and chronic diseases like lupus or endometriosis, resilience is a capability that can improve quality of life and help people cope better with mental and physical health problems. 

The authors conclude that CBT is an intervention tool that needs to be developed more. On a public health level, the impact of CBT on increasing resilience should be tested and developed more, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, where there is an urgent need for such protective measures.

Research Source: https://www.kmuj.kmu.edu.pk/article/view/20194