Resilience facilitates adjustment through greater psychological flexibility among Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans with and without mild traumatic brain injury.
Timothy R Elliott, Yu-Yu Hsiao, Nathan A Kimbrel and 5 others
PMID 31246043WHAT IT FOUND
Veterans with resilient personality traits had better mental health and function over a year, largely because they had greater psychological flexibility.
This protective effect held true regardless of whether the veteran had a history of mild traumatic brain injury.
Key findings
01Veterans with a resilient personality prototype reported lower PTSD and depression symptoms, less functional disability, and higher quality of life over time compared to those with a non-resilient prototype.
02Psychological flexibility was a key mechanism: it mediated the relationship between personality prototype and adjustment outcomes, and predicted better mental health and function across all time points.
03The beneficial effects of resilience, social support, and psychological flexibility on adjustment occurred regardless of the veteran's history of mild traumatic brain injury.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was predominantly male and Caucasian, and enrolled in a specific VA system, which limits generalizability. Personality was assessed only at baseline; we cannot know if personality traits changed due to warzone service (no pre-deployment data). Mediators (like psychological flexibility) were assessed at the same time as personality, making it difficult to prove true temporal mediation. PTSD and depression outcomes were based on self-report symptom scales, not clinical diagnoses. The study observed associations and mechanisms; it did not test whether interventions targeting these mechanisms actually improve outcomes.
Declared interests
The text does not explicitly state funding sources or conflicts of interest in the provided snippets, though it mentions IRB approval and recruitment through the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that resilience is a fixed trait you cannot change, or that psychological flexibility interventions have been proven effective here. This is an observational study showing associations; it did not test an intervention. Additionally, do not assume TBI history is irrelevant to function; warzone-related mTBIs were directly associated with greater functional disability, even if resilience still offered protection.