Background
Prospective studies are needed to assess the influence of pre-pandemic risk factors on mental health outcomes following the COVID-19 pandemic. From direct interviews prior to (T1), and then in the same individuals after the pandemic onset (T2), we assessed the influence of personal psychiatric history on changes in symptoms and wellbeing.
Methods
Two hundred and four (19–69 years/117 female) individuals from a multigenerational family study were followed clinically up to T1. Psychiatric symptom changes (T1-to-T2), their association with lifetime psychiatric history (no, only-past, and recent psychiatric history), and pandemic-specific worries were investigated.
Results
At T2 relative to T1, participants with recent psychopathology (in the last 2 years) had significantly fewer depressive (mean, M = 41.7 v. 47.6) and traumatic symptoms (M = 6.6 v. 8.1, p < 0.001), while those with no and only-past psychiatric history had decreased wellbeing (M = 22.6 v. 25.0, p < 0.01). Three pandemic-related worry factors were identified: Illness/death, Financial, and Social isolation. Individuals with recent psychiatric history had greater Illness/death and Financial worries than the no/only-past groups, but these worries were unrelated to depression at T2. Among individuals with no/only-past history, Illness/death worries predicted increased T2 depression [B = 0.6(0.3), p < 0.05].
Conclusions
As recent psychiatric history was not associated with increased depression or anxiety during the pandemic, new groups of previously unaffected persons might contribute to the increased pandemic-related depression and anxiety rates reported. These individuals likely represent incident cases that are first detected in primary care and other non-specialty clinical settings. Such settings may be useful for monitoring future illness among newly at-risk individuals.
Serotonin shapes brain structure and function during early development across phylogenetically diverse species. In mice and humans, perinatal SSRI exposure produces brain alterations and increases anxiety/depression-related behaviors in the offspring. It remains unclear whether shared brain circuit changes underlie the behavioral impact of perinatal SSRIs across species. We examine how developmental SSRI-exposure in mice and humans changes fear-related brain activation and behavior. SSRI-administered mice showed increased defense responses to a predator odor that were associated with stronger fMRI-based fear circuit activation when compared to saline controls. Similarly, human adolescents exposed to SSRIsin uteroshowed greater activation of fear brain structures and exhibited higher anxiety and depressive symptoms than unexposed adolescents. Perinatal SSRI enhances innate fear-related responses and fear brain circuit activation that are conserved across species.One Sentence SummarySince SSRI use in pregnancy is common, we determined the effects of altered serotonin signaling during development in mice and humans.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.