TY - JOUR
T1 - Mental health responses to COVID-19 around the world
AU - the GPS-CCC Consortium
AU - Olff, Miranda
AU - Primasari, Indira
AU - Qing, Yulan
AU - Coimbra, Bruno M.
AU - Hovnanyan, Ani
AU - Grace, Emma
AU - Williamson, Rachel E.
AU - Hoeboer, Chris M.
AU - Aakvaag, Helene F.
AU - Ajdukovic, Dean
AU - Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous, Xenia
AU - Bakker, Anne
AU - Bröcker, Erine E.
AU - Cantoni, Lucia
AU - Cloitre, Marylene
AU - de Soir, Erik L.J.L.
AU - DraganDragan, Małgorzata
AU - Dyregrov, Atle
AU - El-Hage, Wissam
AU - Ford, Julian D.
AU - Haagsma, Juanita A.
AU - Javakhishvili, Jana D.
AU - Kassam-Adams, Nancy
AU - Kristensen, Christian H.
AU - Langevin, Rachel
AU - Lanza, Juliana A.
AU - Lueger-Schuster, Brigitte
AU - Manickam, Leister S.
AU - Marengo, Davide
AU - Mello, Marcelo, F.
AU - Nickerson, Angela
AU - Oe, Misari
AU - Heval Ozgen, Mihriban
AU - Rabellino, Daniela
AU - Sales, Luisa
AU - Salgado, Carolina
AU - Schellong, Julia
AU - Schnyder, Ulrich
AU - Seedat, Soraya
AU - Semenova, Nadezhda B.
AU - Smith, Andrew J.
AU - Sobczak, Sjacko
AU - June ter Heide, Jackie
AU - Vazquez, Carmelo
AU - Videira Pinto, Janaina
AU - Wagner, Anne C.
AU - Wang, Li
AU - Zrnic, Irina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Background: The mental health impact of the COVID-19 crisis may differ from previously studied stressful events in terms of psychological reactions, specific risk factors, and symptom severity across geographic regions worldwide. Objective: To assess the impact of COVID-19 on a wide range of mental health symptoms, to identify relevant risk factors, to identify the effect of COVID-19 country impact on mental health, and to evaluate regional differences in psychological responses to COVID-19 compared to other stressful events. Method: 7034 respondents (74% female) participated in the worldwide Global Psychotrauma Screen–Cross-Cultural responses to COVID-19 study (GPS-CCC), reporting on mental health symptoms related to COVID-19 (n = 1838) or other stressful events (n = 5196) from April to November 2020. Results: Events related to COVID-19 were associated with more mental health symptoms compared to other stressful events, especially symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and dissociation. Lack of social support, psychiatric history, childhood trauma, additional stressful events in the past month, and low resilience predicted more mental health problems for COVID-19 and other stressful events. Higher COVID-19 country impact was associated with increased mental health impact of both COVID-19 and other stressful events. Analysis of differences across geographic regions revealed that in Latin America more mental health symptoms were reported for COVID-19 related events versus other stressful events, while the opposite pattern was seen in North America. Conclusions: The mental health impact of COVID-19-related stressors covers a wide range of symptoms and is more severe than that of other stressful events. This difference was especially apparent in Latin America. The findings underscore the need for global screening for a wide range of mental health problems as part of a public health approach, allowing for targeted prevention and intervention programs.
AB - Background: The mental health impact of the COVID-19 crisis may differ from previously studied stressful events in terms of psychological reactions, specific risk factors, and symptom severity across geographic regions worldwide. Objective: To assess the impact of COVID-19 on a wide range of mental health symptoms, to identify relevant risk factors, to identify the effect of COVID-19 country impact on mental health, and to evaluate regional differences in psychological responses to COVID-19 compared to other stressful events. Method: 7034 respondents (74% female) participated in the worldwide Global Psychotrauma Screen–Cross-Cultural responses to COVID-19 study (GPS-CCC), reporting on mental health symptoms related to COVID-19 (n = 1838) or other stressful events (n = 5196) from April to November 2020. Results: Events related to COVID-19 were associated with more mental health symptoms compared to other stressful events, especially symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and dissociation. Lack of social support, psychiatric history, childhood trauma, additional stressful events in the past month, and low resilience predicted more mental health problems for COVID-19 and other stressful events. Higher COVID-19 country impact was associated with increased mental health impact of both COVID-19 and other stressful events. Analysis of differences across geographic regions revealed that in Latin America more mental health symptoms were reported for COVID-19 related events versus other stressful events, while the opposite pattern was seen in North America. Conclusions: The mental health impact of COVID-19-related stressors covers a wide range of symptoms and is more severe than that of other stressful events. This difference was especially apparent in Latin America. The findings underscore the need for global screening for a wide range of mental health problems as part of a public health approach, allowing for targeted prevention and intervention programs.
KW - COVID-19
KW - PTSD
KW - anxiety
KW - depression
KW - dissociation
KW - global mental health
KW - insomnia
KW - public health
KW - risk factors
KW - screening
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111754857&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/20008198.2021.1929754
DO - 10.1080/20008198.2021.1929754
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85111754857
SN - 2000-8198
VL - 12
JO - European Journal of Psychotraumatology
JF - European Journal of Psychotraumatology
IS - 1
M1 - 1929754
ER -
