More Resilience in Males with Probable Bipolar Depression than Probable Unipolar Depression among Korean Conscripts

OBJECTIVE This study investigated whether the resilience of males with probable bipolar depression (PBD) can be strengthened and compared it to that of males with probable unipolar depression (PUD). METHODS Prospective data for 198 participants (PBD: 66, PUD: 66, normal control: 66) were analyzed. The participants' resilience, bipolarity and severity of depressive symptoms were evaluated at baseline and after 5 weeks. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and repeated measure ANOVA was performed for comparing resilience between three groups through a basic military training. RESULTS The PBD group demonstrated more resilience than the PUD group at baseline. Participants with PBD became significantly more resilient than participants with PUD after 5 weeks (p<0.01, F=6.967, η2p=0.052). CONCLUSION The study indicates that interventions that strengthen resilience need to be developed for males with PBD and that such interventions are more effective for males with PBD than PUD.