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Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor
The COVID-19 pandemic does not fit into prevailing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) models, or diagnostic criteria, yet emerging research shows traumatic stress symptoms as a result of this ongoing global stressor. Current pathogenic event models focus on past, and largely direct, trauma exposu...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7799777/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33428630 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240146 |
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author | Bridgland, Victoria M. E. Moeck, Ella K. Green, Deanne M. Swain, Taylor L. Nayda, Diane M. Matson, Lucy A. Hutchison, Nadine P. Takarangi, Melanie K. T. |
author_facet | Bridgland, Victoria M. E. Moeck, Ella K. Green, Deanne M. Swain, Taylor L. Nayda, Diane M. Matson, Lucy A. Hutchison, Nadine P. Takarangi, Melanie K. T. |
author_sort | Bridgland, Victoria M. E. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The COVID-19 pandemic does not fit into prevailing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) models, or diagnostic criteria, yet emerging research shows traumatic stress symptoms as a result of this ongoing global stressor. Current pathogenic event models focus on past, and largely direct, trauma exposure to certain kinds of life-threatening events. Yet, traumatic stress reactions to future, indirect trauma exposure, and non-Criterion A events exist, suggesting COVID-19 is also a traumatic stressor which could lead to PTSD symptomology. To examine this idea, we asked a sample of online participants (N = 1,040), in five western countries, to indicate the COVID-19 events they had been directly exposed to, events they anticipated would happen in the future, and other forms of indirect exposure such as through media coverage. We then asked participants to complete the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-5, adapted to measure pre/peri/post-traumatic reactions in relation to COVID-19. We also measured general emotional reactions (e.g., angry, anxious, helpless), well-being, psychosocial functioning, and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. We found participants had PTSD-like symptoms for events that had not happened and when participants had been directly (e.g., contact with virus) or indirectly exposed to COVID-19 (e.g., via media). Moreover, 13.2% of our sample were likely PTSD-positive, despite types of COVID-19 “exposure” (e.g., lockdown) not fitting DSM-5 criteria. The emotional impact of “worst” experienced/anticipated events best predicted PTSD-like symptoms. Taken together, our findings support emerging research that COVID-19 can be understood as a traumatic stressor event capable of eliciting PTSD-like responses and exacerbating other related mental health problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, psychosocial functioning, etc.). Our findings add to existing literature supporting a pathogenic event memory model of traumatic stress. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7799777 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-77997772021-01-22 Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor Bridgland, Victoria M. E. Moeck, Ella K. Green, Deanne M. Swain, Taylor L. Nayda, Diane M. Matson, Lucy A. Hutchison, Nadine P. Takarangi, Melanie K. T. PLoS One Research Article The COVID-19 pandemic does not fit into prevailing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) models, or diagnostic criteria, yet emerging research shows traumatic stress symptoms as a result of this ongoing global stressor. Current pathogenic event models focus on past, and largely direct, trauma exposure to certain kinds of life-threatening events. Yet, traumatic stress reactions to future, indirect trauma exposure, and non-Criterion A events exist, suggesting COVID-19 is also a traumatic stressor which could lead to PTSD symptomology. To examine this idea, we asked a sample of online participants (N = 1,040), in five western countries, to indicate the COVID-19 events they had been directly exposed to, events they anticipated would happen in the future, and other forms of indirect exposure such as through media coverage. We then asked participants to complete the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-5, adapted to measure pre/peri/post-traumatic reactions in relation to COVID-19. We also measured general emotional reactions (e.g., angry, anxious, helpless), well-being, psychosocial functioning, and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. We found participants had PTSD-like symptoms for events that had not happened and when participants had been directly (e.g., contact with virus) or indirectly exposed to COVID-19 (e.g., via media). Moreover, 13.2% of our sample were likely PTSD-positive, despite types of COVID-19 “exposure” (e.g., lockdown) not fitting DSM-5 criteria. The emotional impact of “worst” experienced/anticipated events best predicted PTSD-like symptoms. Taken together, our findings support emerging research that COVID-19 can be understood as a traumatic stressor event capable of eliciting PTSD-like responses and exacerbating other related mental health problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, psychosocial functioning, etc.). Our findings add to existing literature supporting a pathogenic event memory model of traumatic stress. Public Library of Science 2021-01-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7799777/ /pubmed/33428630 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240146 Text en © 2021 Bridgland et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Bridgland, Victoria M. E. Moeck, Ella K. Green, Deanne M. Swain, Taylor L. Nayda, Diane M. Matson, Lucy A. Hutchison, Nadine P. Takarangi, Melanie K. T. Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor |
title | Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor |
title_full | Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor |
title_fullStr | Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor |
title_full_unstemmed | Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor |
title_short | Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor |
title_sort | why the covid-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7799777/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33428630 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240146 |
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