Psychiatric symptoms and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Italian adolescents during the third lockdown: a cross-sectional cohort study

Abstract

A previous study showed that about 80% of Italian adolescents reported isolated symptoms of acute or post-traumatic stress during the first lockdown in Italy. We proposed a new questionnaire to investigate the presence of symptoms related to anxiety, panic, depression, eating disorders, sleep disorders, social withdrawal, stress disorders, psychotic symptoms, anti-conservative thoughts, and self-harming acts aggravated by COVID-19 restrictions and possible differences between males and females. 500 adolescents (12–18 years) completed an online survey created using validated scales. 41% of the respondents felt more stress than during the first lockdown. 1.85% showed suprathreshold symptoms for post-traumatic stress disorder and 21% showed isolated symptoms of acute or post-traumatic stress due to the pandemic. In addition, we found psychotic symptoms (16%), panic (25% suprathreshold), anxiety (46.8% suprathreshold), depression (18.7% suprathreshold), eating-related symptoms (51%), sleep difficulties (57%), a tendency to social withdrawal after the pandemic (15%), suicidal ideation (30%), and self-harming behavior (9%). Furthermore, girls showed a more severe level of distress. The results show a high prevalence of symptoms because of the COVID-19 pandemic and confirm the need for easy access to support and treatment service to help contain the bio-psycho-social risk factors prompted by the current pandemic and promptly and effectively manage the consequences.

Emotions in Times of Pandemic Crisis among Italian Children: A Systematic Review

“…This led to the exclusion of 22 reports in line with the inclusion criteria. After reviewing the full texts, nine articles were excluded since the samples included a population over 12 years, from adolescents to young adults [ 2 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]; eight studies focused on wrong outcomes [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]; two studies enrolled children living outside Italy [ 53 , 54 ]; one study was not focused on the variables within the context of the lockdown effects [ 55 ]; and two studies were excluded for other reasons, i.e., the first recruited participants had a pre-existing neuropsychiatric diagnosis [ 56 ] and the second one reported only qualitative data [ 57 ]. As a result, a total of 12 articles, including 13 studies, were eligible for inclusion in the qualitative assessment [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ].…”

Multiphasic Personality Assessment in a Case Series of Adolescent Patients with Suicidal Ideation and/or Attempts

“…However, since this is a preliminary study, it also lacks longitudinal data. So, our research team is enrolling more participants to have a larger sample, continuing to monitor and collect data on the effects that the pandemic has had on this group of people [4,58], looking into potential risk factors for gender dysphoria [56], and including a control group. It may be possible to use the MMPI-A questionnaire as a preventive measure of the risk of suicide attempts in adolescents if it is administered in certain contexts (e.g., schools) together with additional questionnaires that can easily assess the presence of suicidal ideation, such as the Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale (MAST) [59].…”

“…According to research in 2020, suicide ranks as the second most common cause of death for those between the ages of 10 and 19 [1]. According to recent findings, social isolation brought on by the lockdown situation is one of the theories explaining the increased likelihood of suicidal thoughts during the COVID-19 epidemic [2][3][4]. In addition, suicide risk is correlated with several factors, including social isolation, as well as psychiatric, genetic, environmental, temperamental, and sociocultural aspects [5][6][7].…”

Psychological first aid practice self‐efficacy of nurses in disasters

“…Disasters result in traumatic experiences and leave deep scars in the lives of individuals, causing physical and mental illnesses (Çam et al, 2016;Kılıç & Şims ¸ek, 2018). The extent of harm caused by disasters may be deep enough for individuals to experience various symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, substance abuse, sleep disorders, avoidance behaviors, suicide attempts, and social isolation (Abolhadi et al, 2022;Kar et al, 2014;Mensi et al, 2022). Thus, appropriate psychosocial support interventions need to be provided to such individuals to prevent the symptoms from converting into permanent mental disorders (Kılıç & Şims ¸ek, 2018;Kılıç & Şims ¸ek, 2019).…”