The effects of COVID-19 stressors and family life on anxiety and depression one-year into the COVID-19 pandemic

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Coronavirus (COVID-19)-related stressors and family health on adult anxiety and depressive symptoms 1 year into the pandemic. The sample consisted of 442 adults living in the United States who were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression. Results indicated that compared to a sample 1 month into the pandemic, participants in the current sample reported worse family health and increases in both positive and negative perceptions of the pandemic on family life and routines. COVID-19 stressors and perceived negative effects of the pandemic on family life increased the odds for moderate-to-severe depression and anxiety while having more family health resources decreased the odds for depression and anxiety symptoms. Participants reported lower odds for worse depression and anxiety since the beginning of the pandemic when they reported more positive family meaning due to the pandemic. The results suggest a need to consider the impact of family life on mental health in pandemics and other disasters.     

L’anxiété liée à la COVID-19 : une analyse de ses effets en milieu de travail

The anxiety engendered by the sanitary crisis of the COVID-19 is a novel emotional phenomenon. Due to its recency and novelty, this form of anxiety and its effects are largely unknown. To explore this issue, we conducted a study among 650 civil agents of the Quebec government during the first wave of the pandemic that examined the effects of COVID-19-triggered anxiety on four indicators of work adjustment: job engagement, organizational commitment, psychological empowerment, and ego depletion. While controlling for the effect of relevant contextual factors, our analyses indicate that COVID-19-triggered anxiety is positively related to organizational commitment and ego depletion and negatively related to psychological empowerment. In contrast, COVID-19-triggered anxiety was not significantly related to job engagement.     

Treating Social Anxiety in an Era of Social Distancing: Adapting Exposure Therapy for Youth During COVID-19

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused widespread disruption to our traditional way of life and mental health therapy has not been spared. A combination of increased anxiety, diminished social opportunities, and the shift to telehealth service provision presents particular challenges for the treatment of social anxiety in youth, which relies heavily on exposures to social situations with peers, adults, or other feared social stimuli. The objective of this commentary is to provide guidance to clinicians working with youth with social anxiety on how to maintain ethical, evidence-informed provision of exposure therapy in light of these unusual circumstances. We first present an overview of how COVID-19 may uniquely impact youth with social anxiety and highlight the importance of continuing to provide exposure-based treatments during this time. We then discuss guiding principles for delivering exposure therapy during COVID-19. We focus on providing practical examples of how common social anxiety exposures can be adapted and delivered successfully through telehealth while abiding by COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. Finally, we discuss key recommendations to assist clinicians in moving treatment forward while considering changing safety guidelines pertaining to COVID-19.     

Implicit theories of mental health predict anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: The mediating effect of coping styles

This research investigated how implicit theories of mental health (ITMH) influence people's experience of anxiety and depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Two thousand and 44 Chinese completed the study during an emergent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Shaanxi, China. The results suggested that ITMH significantly influence people's experience of anxiety and depression symptoms. Both active and passive coping styles significantly mediated the relationship between ITMH and anxiety/depression, with active coping style as a stronger mediator than passive coping style. Implications of the current research for improving people's mental health during pandemics of infectious diseases and directions for future research are discussed.     

Regulation strategies during COVID-19 quarantine: The mediating effect of worry on the links between coping strategies and anxiety

IntroductionThe COVID-19 outbreak forced Italian citizens into a generalized quarantine from March to May 2020. The quarantine is a successful measure to reduce the virus's spread through physical and social distancing, but it can also have negative psychological consequences on the population. People experience high levels of worry and anxiety and have to cope with the consequences of the health emergency. The aim of this study was to preliminarily assess the causal relations among coping, worry and state anxiety at the time of COVID-19 first wave, and the mediation role of worry between coping and state anxiety.MethodsDuring March 2020, 1273 Italian citizens completed an ad hoc online survey composed of sociodemographic and preoccupation-related questions, and standardized self-report questionnaire (Brief COPE, Penn State Worry Questionnaire and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State form). Three separate mediation models were performed.ResultsThe relationship between coping strategies (i.e.: problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping and dysfunctional coping) and state anxiety resulted to be mediated by worry. Dysfunctional and problem-focused coping had a negative effect on anxiety scores and this effect was amplified by high levels of worry. Emotion-focused coping reduced state anxiety scores through its effect on reducing the levels of worry, which in turn was related to a reduction in anxiety.ConclusionThe present study offers first evidence for the mediation role of worry in the relation between coping and anxiety during quarantine caused by COVID-19 pandemic. It supports the clinical importance of investigating people's coping strategies along with the levels of (cognitive) worry and their long-term effects on the psychological well-being during the outbreak, in order to deliver adequate personalized interventions. Psychological support should enhance emotion-focused coping strategies that have a protective effect on both worry and anxiety.     

The Short-Term Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Psychiatric Patients: Evidence for Differential Emotion and Symptom Trajectories in Belgium

The spread of COVID-19 and the implementation of various containment strategies across the world have seriously disrupted people’s everyday life, and it is especially uncertain what the psychological impact of this pandemic will be for vulnerable individuals, such as psychiatric (ex-)patients. Governments fear that this virus outbreak may prelude a major mental health crisis, and psychiatrists launch critical calls to flatten an upcoming mental ill-health surge. Here, we aim to add nuance to the idea that we are heading towards a mental health pandemic and that psychiatric populations will unavoidably (re)develop psychopathology. Despite being subjected to the same challenges posed by COVID-19, we argue that people with a history of psychiatric illness will psychologically deal with this adversity in different ways. To showcase the short-term differential impact of COVID-19 on patients’ mental health, we present the day-to-day emotion and symptom trajectories of different psychiatric patients that took part in an experience sampling study before, during, and after the start of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and associated lockdown measures in Belgium. Piecewise regression models show that not all patients’ psychological well-being is affected to a similar degree. As such, we argue that emphasizing human resilience, also among the more vulnerable in society, may be opportune in these unsettling times.     

How mask gap impacts discrimination and anxiety during COVID-19: A study on overseas Chinese during the first outbreak in 2020

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic brought unrelenting waves of xenophobia against people representing vulnerable populations, among them those identified as Asians or more specifically as Chinese. Although previous studies have found that some discriminatory actions against overseas Chinese were closely related to mask use during the pandemic, there is not much evidence that explicates what might be the social-cultural triggers or impact of self-other mask discrepancy. The current study aims to examine how a mask use gap impacts perceived discrimination and anxiety during the first outbreak of COVID-19, and how perceived discrimination mediates the mask gap–anxiety relationship. This was operationalized by developing a new “mask gap” variable to capture the incongruent mask use norms between Chines and others around them in the host country. Data were collected from a cross-sectional sample of Chinese (n = 745) residing in 21 countries from March to May 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. Results showed the newly explicated “mask gap” variable was associated with a higher level of anxiety. In addition, perceived discrimination mediated the mask gap-anxiety relationship. These findings advance both theoretical and practical understandings of how incongruent social norms impact discrimination and mental health during health threat events like the COVID-19 pandemic. The results also suggest important implications for both societal responses and the mental health of sojourners or immigrants during pandemics.     

Des psychologues en milieu hospitalier lors de la crise sanitaire de la Covid-19 : mieux comprendre leur vécu à l’aide du concept de générativité

IntroductionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was confronted with their finitude, risking a crisis of meaning. Considering with Erikson (1950) that generativity is a great vector of meaning in life, which allows an individual to ensure the continuity of society through transmission and care, caregivers usually have a higher generativity score than the general population (Grossman & Gruenewald, 2017). This study then looks for signs of generativity among caregivers, hypothesising that it was particularly mobilised during this health crisis.PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of psychologists working in hospitals on somatic wards in order to identify the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and signs of generativity.MethodIn this exploratory, qualitative, prospective, multicenter study, nine psychologists working in hospital wards were interviewed individually to explore their experiences during a semi-structured interview.ResultsThe markers of existential crisis linked to COVID-19, such as signs of exhaustion and anxiety, were prominent in their discourse. Strong elements of generativity are also found in the interviews. This reflects the testing of their resources.ConclusionGenerativity allowed adaptation during the crisis but does not seem to be sufficient to protect against exhaustion and existential crisis.     

George Floyd’s death and COVID-19: inflection points in the Anthropocene Era?

George Floyd’s death, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change are on a continuum from the immediate shock of viewing a video-recorded murder, to millions dying worldwide from disease, to deaths related to climate change accumulating over a millennium. They participate in the powerful archetypes of death and inequality. ‘Increase’, Hexagram 42 in the I Ching, archetypically addresses inequalities at all levels – racial, economic, political and the profound imbalance between humans and the environment. Floyd’s death highlights the consequences of systemic racism and income inequalities. The pandemic as ‘nature’s revenge’ hits minority populations harder due to underlying health conditions resulting from poverty and greater exposure to the virus in the workplace. President Trump as Trickster showed Americans their shadow and his response to the pandemic amplified its severity. The pandemic has shocked our social, political and economic systems and paused our species rush into environmental disasters at many levels. The disruptions present opportunities for reflection, experimentation and developing new systems as old forms are challenged. The ecological dimensions of Jung’s concepts emphasize interconnectedness at all levels and the paradigm shift he called a ‘new age’ provides a framework for altering the course of the Anthropocene Era.     

Rice-farming areas report more anxiety across two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in China

Cultures responded to the COVID-19 pandemic differently. We investigated cultural differences in mental health during the pandemic. We found regional differences in people's reports of anxiety in China over two years from 2020 to 2021 (N = 1186). People in areas with a history of rice farming reported more anxiety than people in wheat-farming areas. Next, we explored more proximal mechanisms that could help link the distal, historical factor of rice farming to people's modern experience of anxiety. Rice areas scored higher on collectivism and tight social norms than wheat areas, and collectivism, rather than norm tightness, mediated the rice-anxiety relationship. These findings advance our understanding of the distal sources of cultural differences, the proximal mechanisms, and mental health problems during the pandemics.     

Supporting Romantic Relationships During COVID-19 Using Virtual Couple Therapy

The novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) has profoundly impacted people’s lives, resulting in economic turmoil, death and suffering, and drastic changes to everyday life. The adjustment and strain of such challenges can spill over into couples’ relationship processes, including how partners spend time together, talk to one another, and manage conflict. Drawing from our experiences conducting virtual couple therapy (VCT) in a university-based training clinic and community-based clinic, as well as themes from an informal survey of 29 couple therapy clinicians, the current paper discusses the unique challenges that couples face in therapy during COVID-19. Such challenges include renegotiating quality time together, navigating less personal space and time alone, experiencing individual anxiety and stress prompted by the pandemic, and increases in conflict. We discuss our clinical recommendations for addressing these challenges for couples and utilize clinical case examples to illustrate our points. Despite these challenges, we also comment on several positive aspects of COVID-19 on couple relationships. Guided by these considerations and recommendations, our observations suggest that clinicians can effectively support couples’ growth and progress using VCT during COVID-19.     

Framing COVID-19 as an existential threat predicts prejudice towards Chinese people via anxious arousal

We tested the hypothesis that perceived existential threat stemming from COVID-19 elicits anxious arousal, which can manifest in prejudice toward the perceived source of the threat (Chinese people). Americans (n = 474) were randomly assigned to a condition in which COVID-19 was framed as a high existential threat to the United States or to a condition in which COVID-19 was framed as a low existential threat to the United States. They then completed self-report measures of anxious arousal as well as subtle and blatant prejudice towards Chinese people. As expected, participants in the high threat (vs. low threat) condition reported greater anxious arousal which, in turn, predicted greater subtle and blatant prejudice. The high threat (vs. low threat) condition also indirectly predicted greater subtle and blatant prejudice via greater anxious arousal. Results advance knowledge on the reactions people had to perceiving COVID-19 as an existential threat during the early phase of the pandemic.     

Evaluating the Covid-19 pandemic: The role of moral disengagement

The COVID-19 pandemic affected daily life worldwide. We examined how individuals perceived these changes. We expected the propensity to morally disengage (MD) to predict a less negative view of the pandemic via lower perspective-taking and compassion. As predicted, the results of a cross-sectional study (N = 717) show that alongside dispositional optimism, MD was associated with perceiving the pandemic in a less negative manner. Unexpectedly, the proposed mediating effects were not found. Exploratory results showed that MD predicted existential security directly and quality of life indirectly via lower compassion. Altogether, MD may provide some benefits in terms of pandemic perceptions.     

COVID-19 lockdown anxiety harms newcomers' job satisfaction: A cross-lagged panel analysis during snap lockdowns in China

The COVID-19 pandemic may have been a difficult time to join a new organization. Drawing on the feelings-as-information theory, this study explores how COVID-19 lockdown anxiety influenced newcomers' job satisfaction during their first few months of work. We tested 357 new employees working in 84 cities across China. We conducted a longitudinal study, and participants were invited to complete the same survey at two time points. Cross-lagged panel analysis was conducted to test our hypotheses. We confirmed that COVID-19 lockdown anxiety at Time 1 predicted less job satisfaction at Time 2, whereas the data did not support the idea of reverse causality. These findings suggest public health crises like the pandemic can impact newcomers' job satisfaction, especially during China's Zero-Covid Policy.     

Psychological implications of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world: Introduction to the special issue

Although psychological researchers have long studied the implications of major crises, the outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have confronted the global community of psychologists and psychological researchers with new challenges. This special issue contributes to the growing empirical literature on the immediate psychological implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. We present and discuss diverse work from authors that followed our call for papers in May 2020, shortly after the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The studies focus on the early phases of the pandemic by addressing (a) implications of the pandemic for psychological well-being and mental health, (b) psychological effects of lockdown scenarios as well as (c) individual compliance with COVID-19 prevention and intervention measures. We conclude by highlighting the need for new research efforts, with a special focus on low- and middle-income regions, international research collaborations and cross-cultural research designs.     

Rising to the Occasion of This COVID-19-Impacted Nation: Development,Implementation, and Feasibility of the Brief Assessment-Informed Skills Intervention for COVID-19 (BASIC)

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the global economy, physical health, and mental health. This pandemic, like previous viral outbreaks, has resulted in spikes in anxiety, depression, and stress. Even though millions of individuals face the physical health consequences of infection by COVID-19, even more individuals are confronted with the mental health consequences of this pandemic. This significantly increased demand for mental health services cannot be easily met by existing mental health systems, which often rely on courses of therapy to be delivered over months. Single session interventions (SSIs) may be one important approach to meeting this increased demand, as they are treatments designed to be delivered over the course of a single meeting. SSIs have been found to be effective for a range of mental health challenges, with durable effects lasting months to years later. Here, we describe an SSI designed for the COVID-19 pandemic. This Brief Assessment-informed Skills Intervention for COVID-19 (BASIC) program draws upon therapeutic skills from existing empirically supported treatments to target common presenting complaints due to this pandemic. We discuss the process of developing and implementing this intervention, as well as explore feasibility and initial clinical insights. In short, BASIC is an easy-to-adopt intervention that is designed to be effective in a single session, making it well-suited for handling the increased demand for mental health services due to COVID-19.     

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Religiosity: Evidence from Germany

How does a major external shock that potentially threatens the community and the individual impact religiosity in the context of ongoing secularization? Do individuals in a rich and secularized society such as Germany react to potential community-level (sociotropic) and individual-level (egotropic) threat with heightened religiosity? We estimate multilevel regression models to investigate the impact of sociotropic and egotropic existential security threats associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals’ religiosity. Our data come from a rolling cross-sectional online survey conducted in Germany among 7,500 respondents across 13 waves in 2020. Our findings suggest that a global health pandemic such as COVID-19 increases individuals’ perception of existential and economic threat, which, in turn, leads to an increase in religiosity. However, this relationship is only true for egotropic existential security threat but not for sociotropic threat. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings.     

Together – apart: in touch in a time of separation

This paper explores the experience of working as a Jungian analyst through the various phases of the global COVID-19 pandemic, examining the importance of the physical containing space alongside the analyst’s internal mind and how technology can both help and hinder understanding. A number of clinical vignettes illustrate the challenge of communicating over a distance, paying particular attention to the way countertransference phenomena can become re-attuned. Reference is made to mythology and symbols of hope, and consideration given to the meaning and purpose of the pandemic.     

The Black Foe: Being Towards Death1

The ontology of death is universal, hence archetypal. Nowhere do we witness any organic creature escape its talons. Analytical psychology has had an intimate relationship to death for the simple fact that it contemplates the soul, the numinous, and an afterlife. From Hegel to Heidegger, Freud and Jung, death was an existential force that sustained and transformed life, the positive significance of the negative. Rather than merely a destructive phenomenon, death informs Being, the power of nothingness that dialectically drives life. In this paper, I will introduce the notion of what I call the omega principle, the psychological orientation and trajectory of our being towards death, which we may say is a universal preoccupation and recapitulation of the collective unconscious that subsumes our personal relation to death, an eternal return of the objective psyche constellated as esse in anima.     

Links between rational and irrational beliefs,trait anxiety and fear of COVID 19

IntroductionOur beliefs and knowledge influence the way we act, react, or adapt to an aversive situation such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to explore factors that may influence perceived fear of COVID-19.MethodologyThree hundred and forty-two people from the general population participated in this study. The participants completed an online anamnestic questionnaire that included questions regarding feelings of vulnerability to illness, fear of COVID-19, rational and irrational beliefs about COVID-19, and trait anxiety.ResultsA stepwise regression analysis showed that trait anxiety, irrational and rational beliefs, and having comorbidities linked to severe forms of the disease were associated with perceived vulnerability concerning health and fear of COVID-19.DiscussionThis study seems to underline the importance of pre-existing vulnerabilities that were exacerbated during the pandemic.