Mental health improvement after the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with psychological distress.


Journal

Scientific reports
ISSN: 2045-2322
Titre abrégé: Sci Rep
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101563288

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
07 Mar 2024
Historique:
received: 20 11 2023
accepted: 28 02 2024
medline: 8 3 2024
pubmed: 8 3 2024
entrez: 7 3 2024
Statut: epublish

Résumé

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated countermeasures had an immensely disruptive impact on people's lives. Due to the lack of systematic pre-pandemic data, however, it is still unclear how individuals' psychological health has been affected across this incisive event. In this study, we analyze longitudinal data from two healthy samples (N = 307) to provide quasi-longitudinal insight into the full trajectory of psychological burden before (baseline), during the first peak, and at a relative downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our data indicated a medium rise in psychological strain from baseline to the first peak of the pandemic (d = 0.40). Surprisingly, this was overcompensated by a large decrease of perceived burden until downturn (d =  - 0.93), resulting in a positive overall effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health (d = 0.44). Accounting for this paradoxical positive effect, our results reveal that the post-pandemic increase in mental health is driven by individuals that were already facing psychological challenges before the pandemic. These findings suggest that coping with acute challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic can stabilize previously impaired mental health through reframing processes.

Identifiants

pubmed: 38454076
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-55839-3
pii: 10.1038/s41598-024-55839-3
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

5685

Subventions

Organisme : Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
ID : DFG 44541416-TRR58
Organisme : Volkswagen Foundation
ID : AZ 99451

Informations de copyright

© 2024. The Author(s).

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Auteurs

Mario Reutter (M)

Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany. mario.reutter@uni-wuerzburg.de.

Katharina Hutterer (K)

Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Clinical Anxiety Research, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.

Marthe Gründahl (M)

Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.

Dominik Gall (D)

Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany.

Udo Dannlowski (U)

Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.

Katharina Domschke (K)

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Berlin/Potsdam, Berlin, Germany.

Elisabeth J Leehr (EJ)

Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.

Tina B Lonsdorf (TB)

Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany.

Ulrike Lueken (U)

Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Berlin/Potsdam, Berlin, Germany.

Andreas Reif (A)

Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP, Frankfurt, Germany.

Miriam A Schiele (MA)

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.

Peter Zwanzger (P)

kbo-Inn-Salzach-Klinikum, Clinical Center for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatic Medicine, Geriatrics and Neurology, Wasserburg/Inn, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Munich, Germany.

Paul Pauli (P)

Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany.

Grit Hein (G)

Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.

Matthias Gamer (M)

Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany.

Classifications MeSH