Hopes and fears: emerging adults in mood and anxiety disorder treatment predict outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic

Languishing: Experiences of emerging adults in outpatient mental health care one year into the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The strong presence of negative emotion and relative absence of positive emotion is consistent with emotional languishing. Conversely, in our previous qualitative study on this population (Wammes et al, 2022), emerging adults with preexisting mood and anxiety disorders voiced both positive and negative reactions at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although these two studies were not longitudinal, the change in emotional valence in the same demographic supports existing observations in the literature that emerging adults with preexisting mental illness were at risk of deterioration in the pandemic (Concerto et al, 2022).…”

“…is a question that would ostensibly elicit hopes and optimism from respondents. Respondents in our previous study had hoped the pandemic would bring about "better perspective on what's important, improved relationships and connectedness, and personal growth and improvement" (Wammes et al, 2022). Unfortunately, after a year, little over half of respondents in the current study reported experiencing or looking forward to any positive outcome.…”

“…The days and weeks have begun to blur together, and the only way I've been able to tell time has passed is by examining how few antidepressants i have left." Male, age 23 While time for new hobbies was frequently mentioned as a potential upside of the first wave of the pandemic (Wammes et al, 2022), participants now reported ambivalence and fatigue regarding their hobbies.…”

“…The program, its patients, and related outcomes, are described elsewhere (Arcaro et al, 2017;Arcaro et al, 2019;Armstrong et al, 2019;Summerhurst et al, 2017;Summerhurst et al, 2018). We developed a system for monitoring symptoms and functioning of patients during initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic mandatory closures (Osuch et al, 2022), and conducted a previous qualitative analysis regarding patients' responses to the first wave of the pandemic (Wammes et al, 2022).…”

“…This study was also cross-sectional and exploratory in nature. While a previous cross-sectional study done by our group on this population would suggest emotional deterioration during the pandemic (Wammes et al 2022), we did not ask participants about the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts on identity formation, decision-making, and developmental trajectory a priori, nor did this study evaluate the developmental trajectory of our patients longitudinally. Future studies may provide additional insight on COVID-19's impact on emerging adults, identify those who are most likely to experience an alteration in developmental trajectory and strengthen interventions for its re-establishment.…”