--- title: Resilience may be a non-clinical tool for improving depression and anxiety description: Resilience might just be an affordable treatment tool against the rampant effects of the mental health pandemic on university students. image: https://blog.neurozone.com/hubfs/NZ_Blog%20header_Increasing%20Resilience_2.png --- [![neurozone\_logo](https://blog.neurozone.com/hubfs/neurozone_logo.png)](https://www.neurozone.com/) - [Home](https://www.neurozone.com) - [Assessments](https://www.neurozone.com/-personal-assessment) - [Resilience Intelligence](https://www.neurozone.com/resilience-intelligence) - [Masterclasses](https://www.neurozone.com/keynote-and-masterclass) - [Science](https://www.neurozone.com/nz-our-science-) - [Resources](https://www.neurozone.com/-resources) - [About Us](https://www.neurozone.com/about-us) - [How Neurozone® Started](https://www.neurozone.com/about-us?#how-what-why) - [The What, How and Why of Neurozone®](https://www.neurozone.com/about-us?#NZhow-what-why) - [Science and Analytics of Neurozone®](https://www.neurozone.com/about-us?#science-and-analytics-neurozone) - [Meet our Team](https://www.neurozone.com/about-us?#meetourteam) - [Neurozone® Making Waves](https://neurozone.com/about-us?#makingwaves) - [Support](https://www.neurozone.com/support-page) [Get in Touch](https://www.neurozone.com/get-in-touch) [Create Account / Login](https://neurozone-portal.neurozone.com) Science Blogs # Resilience may be a non-clinical tool for improving depression and anxiety Resilience might just be an affordable treatment tool against the rampant effects of the mental health pandemic on university students. [Tyler Phillips](https://blog.neurozone.com/author/tyler-phillips) Mar 8, 2023 --- The [mental health pandemic](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/357710/next-global-pandemic-mental-health.aspx) is sweeping the globe, with common conditions like [anxiety](https://www.apa.org/pi/about/publications/caregivers/practice-settings/assessment/tools/trait-state#:~:text=Description%20of%20Measure%3A%20The%20State,distinguish%20it%20from%20depressive%20syndromes.) and [depression](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495268/) affecting more minds than ever before. It is hitting one group of people quite hard:[university students](https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/10/mental-health-campus-care). As this near-future workforce emerges into a post-pandemic economy, it is crucial to make sure that their mental health, resilience, and capacity for high performance get as good a chance as ever.  Thankfully, after continuously gathering data on the South African student population, we have found a possible way for them to curb and even possibly reduce the severity of these mental health conditions. Using statistical analyses that take causation into account, we were able to quantify the positive effect that resilience has on the severity of anxiety and depression. This was the finding:  *When these students’ resilience score (on the Neurozone® Resilience Index, or NRI) goes up by 1:*  - *it tends to cause depression scores to go down by 0.97, and* - *it tends to cause anxiety scores to go down by 0.72.* This means, for example, if one student’s NRI goes from 60 to 70 (i.e., 10%), their depression score tends to reduce by 9.7%, and their anxiety score tends to go down by 7.2%.     ![NZ\_Branded graph\_NRI x Anx + Dep (1)](https://blog.neurozone.com/hs-fs/hubfs/NZ_Branded%20graph_NRI%20x%20Anx%20+%20Dep%20(1).png?width=602&height=380&name=NZ_Branded%20graph_NRI%20x%20Anx%20+%20Dep%20(1).png)   This is incredibly helpful for many reasons. For people all over the world, there are many[barriers to accessing mental healthcare services](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/abs/barriers-to-mental-health-treatment-results-from-the-who-world-mental-health-surveys/8779313B29B9F3950A0A1154949E0D21) (e.g. psychiatric medication or psychotherapy). For students, the difficulty of accessing these essential services tends to be even greater. Yet, for those without this access, it seems there is another, more accessible option they can take for potentially improving their mental health: enhancing their resilience.   At Neurozone®, we endeavor to uncover through continuous research which behaviors, when cultivated, are associated with improving resilience on the NRI. What this may mean is that we may simultaneously be able to uncover which behaviors, when cultivated, may be associated with decreases in the severity of depression and anxiety symptoms. It might just be that enhancing resilience is, in some ways, an affordable treatment tool against the mental health pandemic. ### How can we help you? ### We specialize in training professionals who use a coaching approach to optimize their people. [GET IN TOUCH](https://www.neurozone.com/get-in-touch)   [Science Blogs](https://blog.neurozone.com/tag/science-blogs) [Resilience](https://blog.neurozone.com/tag/resilience) [Burnout](https://blog.neurozone.com/tag/burnout) ## Similar posts Science Blogs ### [Team Connectors: The secret to higher resilience and job performance](https://blog.neurozone.com/team-connectors-the-secret-to-higher-resilience-and-job-performance) Find out which Team Connector most strongly predicts higher resilience, greater job performance, and lower risk for burnout. Tyler Phillips Feb 7, 2023 Thought Leadership ### [Using Neuroscience to Build Resilient Teams](https://blog.neurozone.com/using-neuroscience-to-build-resilient-teams) There are three key concepts to understanding the significance of cultivating collective resilience: neuroscience, resilience, and teams Dr Etienne van der Walt, Neurologist, CEO and Co-Founder Neurozone Mar 8, 2023 Articles ### [The development and validation of the Resilience Index](https://blog.neurozone.com/the-development-and-validation-of-the-resilience-index) This peer-reviewed paper indicates that our Resilience Index is a reliable, valid measure of resilience. Dr Mariza van Wyk, Dr Etienne van der Walt, Tyler Phillips Jun 23, 2022 ![neurozone\_logo](https://blog.neurozone.com/hubfs/neurozone_logo.png) Neurozone (Pty) Ltd Suite A11 Westlake Square Westlake Drive Steenberg South Africa ### Company - [Blog](https://blog.neurozone.com/all) - [Meet our team](https://www.neurozone.com/about-us?#meetourteam) - [In the news](https://blog.neurozone.com/tag/in-the-news) - [Get in touch](https://www.neurozone.com/get-in-touch) - [Support](https://www.neurozone.com/support-page) ### Legal and Compliance - [Privacy Policy](https://www.neurozone.com/privacy-policy-and-data-protection-statement) - [PAIA Manual](https://blog.neurozone.com/hubfs/Legal%20and%20Compliance/PAI%20Act%20Section%2051%20Manual_NEUROZONE_21.05.2025_Ver1.pdf) - [Terms of Use](https://blog.neurozone.com/hubfs/Legal%20and%20Compliance/Terms%20of%20Use_Neurozone.pdf) - [Cookie Policy](https://blog.neurozone.com/hubfs/Legal%20and%20Compliance/Cookies%20Policy_Neurozone.pdf) - [Terms of Service](https://www.neurozone.com/terms-of-service) ### Products and Services - [The Neurozone Personal Assessment](https://www.neurozone.com/-personal-assessment) ###### © 2025 Neurozone (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved. [Powered by Atlas - a B2B SaaS HubSpot theme](https://www.kalungi.com/atlas-hubspot-theme-for-b2b-saas-software) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Tyler Phillips", "url" : "https://blog.neurozone.com/author/tyler-phillips" }, "dateModified" : "2024-12-17T08:21:46.006Z", "datePublished" : "2023-03-08T08:54:15.000Z", "headline" : "Resilience may be a non-clinical tool for improving depression and anxiety", "image" : [ "https://blog.neurozone.com/hubfs/NZ_Blog%20header_Increasing%20Resilience_2.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.neurozone.com/resilience-may-be-a-non-clinical-tool-for-improving-depression-and-anxiety", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.neurozone.com/hubfs/Neurozone_Logo_2021_horizontal-1.svg" }, "name" : "Neurozone" } } ```