The aim of this study was to examine whether the capacity for mentalizing and resilience among healthcare workers (HCWs) explains the degree of burnout syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia. The research was conducted on a sample of 406 healthcare workers (141 doctors and 265 nurses), aged 19 to 65 years (M = 40.11, SD = 9.41)—203 worked on the COVID-19 frontline, and 203 in regular clinical conditions. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to measure the burnout syndrome. Capacity for mentalizing was examined using the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire. The Brief Resilience Scale was used to measure resilience. The results indicated that there were negative correlations between resilience and the dimensions of burnout—emotional exhaustion (r = −0.38; p < 0.01) and depersonalization (r = −0.11; p < 0.05), and a positive correlation between resilience and personal accomplishment (r = 0.27; p < 0.01), as was expected. The analyses of hierarchical linear regression showed that hypomentalizing was a significant positive predictor of emotional exhaustion (ß = 0.12; p < 005) and depersonalization (ß = 0.15; p < 0.05), resilience was a significant negative predictor of emotional exhaustion (ß = −0.28, p < 0.01) and positive predictor of personal accomplishment (ß = 0.20; p < 0.01), and that the degree of explained variance of burnout dimensions was higher when resilience and hypomentalizing were included in regression models, in addition to sociodemographic variables. The findings suggest that being a woman and working on the COVID-19 frontline implies a higher burnout, while the level of burnout decreases with better socioeconomic status and more children. Resilience, capacity for mentalizing, and burnout syndrome among HCWs are interrelated phenomena, which have important professional implications.

Beginning with its emergence in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a pandemic that causes COVID-19, has spread and left profound consequences on the lives and health of people around the world. Although most patients who have COVID-19 recover after two to six weeks, research shows that 10–30% of people who have had COVID-19, even with a mild clinical picture, remain with persistent symptoms that have a devastating effect on their quality of life. These symptoms, which most often include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, headache, and cognitive dysfunction, but also others that generally have an impact on everyday functioning, are recognized as a clinical condition called post-COVID syndrome (long COVID). In addition to physical disabilities in people recovering from COVID-19, mental health problems have also been observed, including problems with concentration (“brain fog”), anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive review of the current scientific findings identifying post-COVID conditions and their relationship with mental health status.

Human life and activities are associated with risk, as risk is inherent in all forms of human existence and action. Risk is regarded as a phenomenological variable considering how people perceive it, especially during a crisis they experience. This paper discusses the characteristics of human behavior in a crisis, with an emphasis on hazard perception and risk assessment, for the purpose of understanding people’s decisions and adaptation before, during, and after a crisis. The discussion focuses on the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress on healthcare professionals worldwide. Since resilience and mentalizing capacity play very important preventive roles when it comes to mental health, the main goal of this study was to determine whether the capacity for mentalizing and resilience could explain the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted in Serbia on a sample of 406 healthcare workers (141 doctors and 265 nurses) aged 19 to 65 (M = 40.11, SD = 9.41). The participants’ mental health status was evaluated using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale—DASS-42. The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire was used to evaluate the capacity for mentalizing. Resilience was assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale. The results of the correlation analysis showed that there were negative correlations between resilience and all three dimensions of mental health status: depression, anxiety, and stress. Hypermentalizing was negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, and stress, while hypomentalizing was positively correlated. Hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that both resilience and hypermentalizing were significant negative predictors of depression, anxiety, and stress, and that hypomentalizing was a significant positive predictor of depression, anxiety, and stress. Furthermore, socioeconomic status was a significant negative predictor of depression, anxiety, and stress. Marital status, number of children, and work environment were not statistically significant predictors of any of the three dimensions of mental health status among the healthcare workers in this study. There is an urgent need to establish and implement strategies to foster resilience and enhance the capacity for mentalizing among healthcare workers in order to minimize the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous psychological impact worldwide, and represents an unprecedented threat to mental health. There are significant individual differences in adaptation to a stressful situation such as a pandemic, which depends on personality characteristics and psychological resources such as resilience and capacity for mentalizing. Research shows that a good capacity for mentalizing and resilience are a protective factors for mental health, which can be acquired through an appropriate education and training programs. The objective of this chapter is to summarize the extant literature reporting on mental health, ie. the prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and others forms of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. An additional objective is to identify the role of preventive factors: resilience and capacity for mentalizing, which are associated with mental health. Findings from the extensive scientific literature prove that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the prevalence of mental health problems by a massive 25% worldwide and that resilience and good mental capacity play a significant role in reducing mental health disorders.

Background Teaching is considered a high-risk profession due to the high impact of occupational risk factors which can endanger educators’ mental health and lead to burnout syndrome. This study aimed to examine whether the capacity for mentalizing in teachers explains the degree of their burnout syndrome. The expectation was that a low capacity for mentalizing increases the degree of burnout. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 823 teachers. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey was used to examine the burnout syndrome. The capacity for mentalizing was examined using hypomentalizing and hypermentalizing scales from the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire. Results The expectation that a low capacity for mentalizing increases teachers’ burnout confirms the finding that hypomentalizing is a positive predictor of their emotional exhaustion as a dimension of burnout (ß = 0.09; p < 0.01). Unexpectedly, hypomentalizing proved to be a positive predictor of personal accomplishment (ß = 0.09; p < 0.05), which indicates that with a lower capacity for mentalizing, teachers experience greater personal accomplishment. Also, hypermantalizing was a negative predictor of emotional exhaustion (ß = -0.17; p < 0.01) and depersonalization (ß = -0.31; p < 0.01), and a positive predictor of personal accomplishment (ß = 0.30; p < 0.01). The findings showed that with higher socioeconomic status, with marriage and having children, the burnout of teachers is lower, as expected. Conclusions Capacity for mentalizing and burnout syndrome in teachers are interrelated phenomena. With a good capacity for mentalizing, emotional exhaustion and burnout in teachers are reduced. Knowledge and skills that enable a good capacity for mentalizing should be included in educational and teacher training programs.

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Objective. The aim of the study was to determine the level of stress and life satisfaction in alcohol addicts, i.e., to examine whether respondents diagnosed with alcohol dependence (F10.2) differ according to the level ofstress and life satisfaction in comparison to respondents from the general population. Methods. The research was designed as a non-experimental, observational cross-sectional study, and was conducted in the period from January to July 2021, at the University Clinical Center Kragujevac. The sample consisted of 80 subjects of both sexes, aged 22 to 36 years, divided into two groups: the clinical group (subjects diagnosed with alcohol dependence - F10.2) and the control group of subjects without psychiatric illness. Results. The study has shown that alcohol addicts have clinically significant and severe symptoms of stress, as well as that stress symptoms were positively correlated with alcoholism, and negatively with life satisfaction. In our sample, the association between stress and life satisfaction in addicts was very negative and very significant (r = - 0.645, p <0.001). In the clinical group of alcohol addicts, a very strong correlation was found (r = - 0.907, p <0.001), while in the control group there was a moderate correlation (r = - 0.315, p <0.05). No statistically significant correlation of stress was found with marital status, as well as with work status, level of education or religious beliefs. Conclusion. In our study, it was found that higher values of stress and lower values of life satisfaction are predictive values for the possibility of alcohol dependence. These findings can be used as an auxiliary tool for orientation assessment as part of establishing the diagnosis of alcohol dependence, as well as for a better understanding of the stress phenomenon in the clinical population of alcohol addicts in our country.