Li JB, Rong W. Low resilience in patients with cancer as a factor influencing anxiety, depression, and quality-of-life. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(10): 106789 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i10.106789]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jiang-Bo Li, Department of Psychosomatics, Jianyang People’s Hospital, No. 108 Yiyuan Street, Jianyang 641400, Sichuan Province, China. 1015950973@qq.com
Research Domain of This Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2025; 15(10): 106789 Published online Oct 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i10.106789
Low resilience in patients with cancer as a factor influencing anxiety, depression, and quality-of-life
Jiang-Bo Li, Wei Rong
Jiang-Bo Li, Department of Psychosomatics, Jianyang People’s Hospital, Jianyang 641400, Sichuan Province, China
Wei Rong, Department of Clinical Psychology, Wuhu Hospital Affiliated to East China Normal University, Wuhu 241000, Anhui Province, China
Co-first authors: Jiang-Bo Li and Wei Rong.
Author contributions: Li JB and Rong W designed the study, and wrote the manuscript, they contributed equally to this article, they are the co-first authors of this manuscript; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jiang-Bo Li, Department of Psychosomatics, Jianyang People’s Hospital, No. 108 Yiyuan Street, Jianyang 641400, Sichuan Province, China. 1015950973@qq.com
Received: March 7, 2025 Revised: May 25, 2025 Accepted: July 28, 2025 Published online: October 19, 2025 Processing time: 203 Days and 15.8 Hours
Abstract
Low resilience levels in patients with cancer have been associated with anxiety, depression, and reduced quality-of-life (QoL), resilience serves as a crucial mediating variable in these pathways, constituting one of the most actively investigated research domains. Recent studies on the correlation between resilience, coping styles, and QoL have offered important insights into the potential psychological mechanisms through which resilience could affect emotional well-being and overall QoL in patients with cancer. These findings suggest that low resilience constitutes a significant risk factor for cancer prognosis. This study reviews the negative impact of low resilience on cancer prognosis and highlights resilience-enhancing interventions. Promoting resilience-focused interventions may represent a promising approach to ameliorate anxiety and depression, thus improving QoL and potentially improving clinical prognosis for patients with cancer.
Core Tip: Resilience, coping styles, and social support in patients with cancer are closely related to their quality-of-life. Substantial evidence confirms the adverse effects of low resilience in patients with cancer. However, enhancing the resilience of the patients through effective intervention can help improve negative emotions such as anxiety and depression, increase sleep quality, and boost overall quality-of-life, thereby positively impacting their prognoses. Strategies to improve resilience include psychotherapy, active coping, strengthened social support and self-efficacy, exercise, and medical assistance.
