COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown Measures Impact on Mental Health Among the General Population in Italy

Abstract

Background: The psychological impact of the COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and lockdown measures on the Italian population are unknown. The current study assesses rates of mental health outcomes in the Italian general population three to 4 weeks into lockdown measures and explores the impact of COVID-19 related potential risk factors. Methods: A web-based survey spread throughout the internet between March 27 th and April 6 th 2020. Eighteen thousand one hundred forty-seven individuals completed the questionnaire, 79.6% women. Selected outcomes were post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), depression, anxiety, insomnia, perceived stress, and adjustment disorder symptoms (ADS). Seemingly unrelated logistic regression analysis was performed to identify COVID-19 related risk factors. Results: Endorsement rates for PTSS were 6,604 (37%), 3,084 (17.3%) for depression, 3,700 (20.8%) for anxiety, 1,301 (7.3%) for insomnia, 3,895 (21.8%) for high perceived stress and 4,092 (22.9%) for adjustment disorder. Being woman and younger age were associated with all of the selected outcomes. Quarantine was associated with PTSS, anxiety and ADS. Any recent COVID-related stressful life event was associated with all the selected outcomes. Discontinued working activity due to the COVID-19 was associated with all the selected outcomes, except for ADS; working more than usual was associated with PTSS, Perceived stress and ADS. Having a loved one deceased by COVID-19 was associated with PTSS, depression, perceived stress, and insomnia. Conclusion: We found high rates of negative mental health outcomes in the Italian general population 3 weeks into the COVID-19 lockdown measures and different COVID

Sleep Quality, Empathy, and Mood During the Isolation Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Canadian Population: Females and Women Suffered the Most

“…Sleep disorders and anxiety disorders were more prevalent in women, those unemployed, and those who were worried about being infected with COVID-19 (or knew people who died due to COVID-19). These findings are consistent with other studies conducted in the Italian (11)(12)(13), and Chinese populations (14)(15)(16)(17), some of the most affected, confirming the significant negative impact of the pandemic on mental health. Although these studies provide a significant contribution to understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the human well-being, the effects of sex and gender in response to the pandemic, as well as the deterioration and progression of the individuals' mental health over the course of the isolation period, remain unknown.…”

COVID-19: Common Constructions of the Pandemic and Their Implications

“…For instance, if my existence is based on being an active person, engaged in many activities and helpful for others, the difficulty in playing this role in the new situation due to the pandemic may lead me to feel that I have no role to play. This guilt is expressed by many of our clients in terms of a sense of void and a lack of a future, but also by a series of somatic symptoms such as sleeping disorders and tiredness, as has also been reported in recent studies (Cellini et al, 2020;Huang & Zhao 2020;Rossi et al, 2020). The somatic component of guilt was already stated by Kelly (1955) and can be understood by considering that the most relevant transitions can imply maintenance processes through the involvement of core constructs, that is, those by which people maintain their identity and existence.…”

“…Somebody compared this ritual to that of tuning to BBC radio during the Second World War. Threat may also explain the presence of trauma-related disorders during the COVID-19 outbreak (Boyraz & Legros 2020;Qiu et al, 2020;Rossi et al, 2020) because people are exposed to the possibility of dying or having those close to them die. The American Psychiatric Association (2013) precisely defines trauma as the exposure to events that are outside the realm of the usual human experience, such as actual or threatened death and serious injuries.…”

Italians on the Age of COVID-19: The Self-Reported Depressive Symptoms Through Web-Based Survey

“…This finding was in accordance with studies by Qiu et al (2020) and Wang et al (2020) among the Chinese general population in the first 2 weeks following the outbreak, as well as Broche-Pérez et al (2020) among the Cuban population. Also, among the Italian general population higher levels of psychological distress were reported in the female gender compared to their male counterparts (Ho et al, 2020;Rossi et al, 2020).…”