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Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: A cross-sectional study
The COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures are affecting mental health, especially among patients with pre-existing mental disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the first wave and its aftermath of the pandemic in Germany (March–July) on psychopathology of pati...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9387803/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35980908 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272215 |
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author | Langhammer, Till Peters, Carlotta Ertle, Andrea Hilbert, Kevin Lueken, Ulrike |
author_facet | Langhammer, Till Peters, Carlotta Ertle, Andrea Hilbert, Kevin Lueken, Ulrike |
author_sort | Langhammer, Till |
collection | PubMed |
description | The COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures are affecting mental health, especially among patients with pre-existing mental disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the first wave and its aftermath of the pandemic in Germany (March–July) on psychopathology of patients diagnosed with panic disorder, social anxiety disorder and specific phobia who were on the waiting list or in current treatment at a German university-based outpatient clinic. From 108 patients contacted, forty-nine patients (45.37%) completed a retrospective survey on COVID-19 related stressors, depression, and changes in anxiety symptoms. Patients in the final sample (n = 47) reported a mild depression and significant increase in unspecific anxiety (d = .41), panic symptoms (d = .85) and specific phobia (d = .38), while social anxiety remained unaltered. Pandemic related stressors like job insecurities, familial stress and working in the health sector were significantly associated with more severe depression and increases in anxiety symptoms. High pre-pandemic symptom severity (anxiety/depression) was a risk factor, whereas meaningful work and being divorced/separated were protective factors (explained variance: 46.5% of changes in anxiety and 75.8% in depressive symptoms). In line with diathesis-stress models, patients show a positive association between stressors and symptom load. Health care systems are requested to address the needs of this vulnerable risk group by implementing timely and low-threshold interventions to prevent patients from further deterioration. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9387803 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93878032022-08-19 Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: A cross-sectional study Langhammer, Till Peters, Carlotta Ertle, Andrea Hilbert, Kevin Lueken, Ulrike PLoS One Research Article The COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures are affecting mental health, especially among patients with pre-existing mental disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the first wave and its aftermath of the pandemic in Germany (March–July) on psychopathology of patients diagnosed with panic disorder, social anxiety disorder and specific phobia who were on the waiting list or in current treatment at a German university-based outpatient clinic. From 108 patients contacted, forty-nine patients (45.37%) completed a retrospective survey on COVID-19 related stressors, depression, and changes in anxiety symptoms. Patients in the final sample (n = 47) reported a mild depression and significant increase in unspecific anxiety (d = .41), panic symptoms (d = .85) and specific phobia (d = .38), while social anxiety remained unaltered. Pandemic related stressors like job insecurities, familial stress and working in the health sector were significantly associated with more severe depression and increases in anxiety symptoms. High pre-pandemic symptom severity (anxiety/depression) was a risk factor, whereas meaningful work and being divorced/separated were protective factors (explained variance: 46.5% of changes in anxiety and 75.8% in depressive symptoms). In line with diathesis-stress models, patients show a positive association between stressors and symptom load. Health care systems are requested to address the needs of this vulnerable risk group by implementing timely and low-threshold interventions to prevent patients from further deterioration. Public Library of Science 2022-08-18 /pmc/articles/PMC9387803/ /pubmed/35980908 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272215 Text en © 2022 Langhammer et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://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 Langhammer, Till Peters, Carlotta Ertle, Andrea Hilbert, Kevin Lueken, Ulrike Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: A cross-sectional study |
title | Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: A cross-sectional study |
title_full | Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: A cross-sectional study |
title_fullStr | Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: A cross-sectional study |
title_full_unstemmed | Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: A cross-sectional study |
title_short | Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: A cross-sectional study |
title_sort | impact of covid-19 pandemic related stressors on patients with anxiety disorders: a cross-sectional study |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9387803/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35980908 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272215 |
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