"Perseverance cultivates a sense of purposefulness that can create resilience against or decrease current levels of major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder," said Dr Nur Hani Zainal, MS, from The Pennsylvania State University and lead author of the study. "Looking on the bright side of unfortunate events has the same effect because people feel that life is meaningful, understandable and manageable."
Depression, anxiety and panic disorders are common mental health disorders that can be chronic and debilitating and put a person's physical health and livelihood at risk, according to Zainal and her co-author, Dr Michelle G Newman, also of The Pennsylvania State University. "Often, people with these disorders are stuck in a cycle of negative thought patterns and behaviours that can make them feel worse," said Newman. "We wanted to understand what specific coping strategies would be helpful in reducing rates of depression, anxiety and panic attacks."
Zainal and Newman used data from 3,294 adults who were studied over 18 years. The average age of participants was 45, nearly all were white and slightly fewer than half were college-educated. Data were collected three times, in 1995 to 1996, 2004 to 2005 and 2012 to 2013. At each interval, participants were asked to rate their goal persistence ("When I encounter problems, I don't give up until I solve them"), self-mastery ("I can do just anything I really set my mind to") and positive reappraisal ("I can find something positive, even in the worst situations"). Diagnoses for major depressive, anxiety and panic disorders were also collected at each interval.
People who showed more goal persistence and optimism during the first assessment in the mid-1990s had greater reductions in depression, anxiety and panic disorders across the 18 years, according to the authors.
And throughout those years, people who began with fewer mental health problems showed more increased perseverance toward life goals and were better at focusing on the positive side of unfortunate events, said Zainal.
"Our findings suggest that people can improve their mental health by raising or maintaining high levels of tenacity, resilience and optimism," she said. "Aspiring toward personal and career goals can make people feel like their lives have meaning. On the other hand, disengaging from striving toward those aims or having a cynical attitude can have high mental health costs."
Unlike in previous research, Zainal and Newman did not find that self-mastery, or feeling in control of one's fate, had an effect on the mental health of participants across the 18-year period.
"This could have been because the participants, on average, did not show any changes in their use of self-mastery over time," said Newman. "It is possible that self-mastery is a relatively stable part of a person's character that does not easily change."
The authors believe their findings will be beneficial for psychotherapists working with clients dealing with depression, anxiety and panic disorders.
"Clinicians can help their clients understand the vicious cycle caused by giving up on professional and personal aspirations. Giving up may offer temporary emotional relief but can increase the risk of setbacks as regret and disappointment set in," said Zainal. "Boosting a patient's optimism and resilience by committing to specific courses of actions to make dreams come to full fruition despite obstacles can generate more positive moods and a sense of purpose."
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and panic disorder (PD), constitute common mental disorders that may have chronic and disabling courses. Cognitive and behavioral theories posit that lack of engagement in certain strategies (goal persistence, self-mastery, positive reappraisal) increases vulnerability toward these disorders. Further, scar effect theories assert that experiencing more of these disorders may diminish engagement in such strategies within individuals across time. However, dynamic longitudinal associations between cognitive–behavioral strategies (CBS) and disorder counts across adulthood are not well understood. Using bivariate latent difference score models, this study aimed to test the dynamic trajectories between disorder counts and each CBS across 18 years. Participants were 3,294 community-dwelling adults ages 45.62 years (SD = 11.41, range = 20–74; 54.61% female) who took part in 3 waves of measurement spaced 9 years apart. Self-mastery, disorder counts, and their change were not significantly related. However, higher within-subject increase in goal persistence (but not self-mastery or positive reappraisal) led to greater future decline in disorder counts, but not vice versa. Last, within individuals, greater prior levels of goal persistence and positive reappraisal predicted larger subsequent reduction in disorder counts, and vice versa. The reciprocal, bidirectional associations between specific CBS (goal persistence, positive reappraisal) and disorder counts support both vulnerability and scar models of depression and anxiety. Treatments for MDD, GAD, and PD should attempt to enhance perseverance and optimism. Theoretical and clinical implications are further discussed.
Authors
Nur Hani Zainal, Michelle G Newman
[link url="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/goals-perseverance"]American Psychological Association material[/link]
[link url="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fabn0000428"]Journal of Abnormal Psychology abstract[/link]