Anxiety, Depression and Death Anxiety in Individuals with COVID-19

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the death anxiety, anxiety, and depression levels of the individuals staying at the hospital due to COVID-19. The study recruited 300 patients with confirmed COVID-19 who were staying at specialized clinics in the hospital. Three tools – A Patient Information Form, the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)–were used to collect data. The findings of the present study revealed that 28.7% of the participants were at a high risk for developing anxiety and 45.0% were equally at a high risk for developing depression. 33.3% of the participants suffered from high level of death anxiety. There was a positive and highly significant correlation between their death anxiety and their anxiety and depression scores ( p < .001). Accordingly, more evidence-based studies need to be conducted that examine how effective non-pharmacological practices are at helping COVID-19 patients by identifying their anxiety, depression, and death anxiety. Furthermore, nurses need to take care of patient care in a holistic manner that would include addressing patients’ psychological needs alongside their physical problems.

Living in a Pandemic: Social Isolation and Mental Health

“…Apart from the consequences of physical health, of economy, and influence on society, the psychological impact of this pandemic is increasingly being reported in the scientific articles (Kalcev et al 2020;Nicola et al 2020;Lei et al 2020). Current information in articles suggests that people suffered from COVID-19 may have a high burden of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety disorders, stress, panic attacks, irrational anger, impulsivity, somatic disorders, sleep disorders, emotional disorders, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and suicidal behavior (Pfefferbaum and North 2020;Wang et al 2019;Karadağ et al 2022) There are numerous evidence of neurological, cognitive, and emotional disturbances in patients with COVID-19. Acute neurological symptoms such as neuro-inflammation, cognitive impairment, loss of smell, and stroke are common direct sequelae among patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.…”

Psychological treatments for mental health symptoms associated with COVID‐19 infection: A scoping review

“…Many experience substantial distress, 8 , 9 concerns about prognosis and support, 10 and threats to mortality and wellbeing. 11 Several psychosocial risk factors are associated with having a psychiatric diagnosis, including female gender, previous psychiatric diagnoses, outpatient status, unemployment, poor perceived health, low resilience, and low social support. 12 , 13 , 14 Furthermore, longer duration of hospitalization correlates with the severity of mental health symptoms, which is partly accounted for by infection severity.…”

Hipertansiyon ve ST Elevasyon’lu Akut Miyokard İnfarktüsü Hastalarında Ölüm Anksiyetesi ve Etkileyen Faktörler

“…10 Death anxiety encompasses many emotions, such as fear, grief, and restlessness. 11,12 One of the factors that cause death anxiety is the presence of a chronic disease. 11,13,14 The most important reason for death anxiety and depression in STEMI patients is the high mortality rate.…”

“…11,12 One of the factors that cause death anxiety is the presence of a chronic disease. 11,13,14 The most important reason for death anxiety and depression in STEMI patients is the high mortality rate. [15][16][17][18][19] When literature is examined, it is stated that there are a limited number of studies examining the death anxiety of heart patients, and these patients experience moderate to severe death anxiety 19,20 .…”