Mental Health and the SARS-COV-2 Epidemic—Polish Research Study

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the mental state of Poles in the first weeks of the SARS-COV-2 epidemic. Methods: In the study, the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-18), The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and Mini-Cope were used. Results: The study was conducted on a group of 443 individuals, including 348 women (78.6%) and 95 men (21.4%). There were more women (χ2 = 6.42, p = 0.02) in the group of people with high results in the GHQ-28 questionnaire and the differentiating factors between those with sten scores above 7 (significantly deteriorated mental health) and those with average or low results (sten score below 7) turned out to be: treatment for mental disorders before the pandemic (χ2 = 19.57, p < 0.001) and the use of psychotherapy during the pandemic (χ2 = 4.21, p = 0.04) and psychiatric pharmacotherapy (χ2 = 8.31, p = 0.01). The presence of suicidal thoughts since the appearance of the pandemic-related restraints and limitations significantly differentiates the compared groups (χ2 = 38.48, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Every fourth person in the examined group (over 26% of the respondents) recorded results that indicate a high probability of mental functioning disorders. Approximately 10% of the respondents signalled the occurrence of suicidal thoughts since the beginning of the pandemic. The respondents complain mainly about problems in everyday life, lack of satisfaction from one’s own activities, tension, trouble sleeping, and feelings of exhaustion. Individuals with significantly reduced mental well-being use non-adaptive coping strategies, such as denying problems, emotional discharge, taking substances, discontinuation of action, and blaming themselves for the situation. The risk factors for the deterioration of the mental state of the respondents during the pandemic include psychiatric treatment before the beginning of the pandemic, the presence of suicidal thoughts during forced isolation, and the use of non-adaptive coping strategies (denial of the existence of problems, emotional discharge, use of psychoactive substances, discontinuation of action, and blaming oneself for the situation).

Mental Health in the Era of the Second Wave of SARS-CoV-2: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on an Online Survey among Online Respondents in Poland

“…A study conducted in 2017 and 2020 in the Czech Republic, which is Poland’s closest neighbour, showed an increase in mental disorder control from 20.02% to 29.63%, showing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the numerous restrictions associated with it [ 28 ]. Comparing the results of our study with the results of other studies published before the pandemic (despite a different methodology and study groups), it can be supposed that COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental condition of Polish respondents [ 13 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. In both this study and worldwide reports, women are significantly more likely to show a tendency towards mental disorders in response to a stressful situation, and the significant prevalence of women (81.8%) may significantly affect the final outcome of the study’s analysis.…”

“…Compared to reports from Poland during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (when COVID-19-related cases and deaths were significantly lower), the study involving 443 individuals showed a mean GHQ-28 score of 31.74 ± 16.93 [ 24 ]. The data obtained from India show a risk of mental disorders in nearly 42.16% of respondents with a mean GHQ-28 score of 24.18 ± 14.00 [ 25 ].…”

“…In both this study and worldwide reports, women are significantly more likely to show a tendency towards mental disorders in response to a stressful situation, and the significant prevalence of women (81.8%) may significantly affect the final outcome of the study’s analysis. However, most studies in the form of online surveys have a female preponderance due to greater willingness and inclination of women to participate in surveys [ 13 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”

COVID-19 pandemic fear, life satisfaction and mental health at the initial stage of the pandemic in the largest cities in Poland

“…To the best of our knowledge, the present survey is the first study concerning general mental health, worries and well-being at the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the largest cities in Poland (Bartoszek et al, 2020;Maciaszek et al, 2020;Szepietowski et al, 2020;Talarowska et al, 2020) The results showed that (1) the current level of happiness and life satisfaction was an important predictor of depression and anxiety factor measured by GHQ-30; (2) the higher the pre-epidemic life satisfaction, the worse the interpersonal relationships; and…”

“…On 20 March the state of epidemic came into force in Poland. Wellbeing and mental health deteriorated, not only in general population (Bartoszek et al, 2020;Talarowska et al, 2020) and student population (Debowska et al, 2020) but also among medical workers (Maciaszek et al, 2020;Szepietowski et al, 2020;Waszkiewicz, 2020).…”