ReviewInternational journal of cognitive therapy2021
A Perfect Storm? Health Anxiety, Contamination Fears, and COVID-19: Lessons Learned from Past Pandemics and Current Challenges.
Review in International journal of cognitive therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 36 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- The interaction between gender, health and smartwatch use on health anxiety.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Echoes of ease: Tracing the course of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the aftermath of a pandemic-Insights from a four-year panel study.The British journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- High impact low probability events: research landscape and future opportunities.Natural hazards (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2026Review
- Research on influencing factors of public panic during infectious disease pandemics: a structural equation modeling study in five cities.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Psychometric Evaluation of the Over-Cleanliness Scale (OCS) Amid Covid-19 Pandemic and the Role of Perceived Stress and OCD Proneness on Over-Cleanliness: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- From Unrealistic to Functional Optimism in Illness Perception: A Psychometric Comparison Across 10 Countries.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2025Article
- Evaluation of primary oral health-related factors predicting depression before and after the COVID-19 pandemic using KNHANES data.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The Peking Health Anxiety Scale for Infectious Diseases: psychometric properties and short-form development.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- The anxiety response of patients with severe psychiatric disorders to the recent public health crisis.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Covid-19 psychological pressures, depression and FOMO: the mediating role of online social support and emotional regulation.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- The relationship between maladaptive health beliefs, pandemic-related stress, and health anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic.Health psychology report · 2024Article
- The prevalence and determinants of health anxiety during the covid-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- Contributions of Trauma and Economic Insecurity to Psychological Distress in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.Mental health science · 2023Article
- Article
- Engaging a national-scale cohort of smart thermometer users in participatory surveillance.NPJ digital medicine · 2023Article
- The perceived long-term impact of COVID-19 on OCD symptomology.Journal of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders · 2023Article
- Face masks negatively skew theory of mind judgements.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Investigating the correlation between perceived stress and health anxiety with obsessive-compulsive disorder and quality of life during COVID-19 pandemic.BMC psychology · 2023Article
- Labor force participation during COVID-19 and risk of depression: a Danish register study.European journal of public health · 2023Article
- The benefits of tourism for rural community development.Humanities & social sciences communications · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly spread, becoming a global pandemic with significant health, economic, and social impacts. COVID-19 has caused widespread anxiety, which at healthy levels leads to adaptive, protective behavioral changes. For some individuals, a pandemic outbreak can lead to excessive, maladaptive levels of anxiety, particularly among those with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and health anxiety. In the present paper, we review past research studies that examined anxiety in response to other disease outbreaks (including Swine Flu, Zika, and Ebola) to serve as a guide for expectable responses to COVID-19. Our review focused on the role of belief-based cognitive variables (obsessive beliefs, contamination cognitions), transdiagnostic processes (disgust sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity, an intolerance of uncertainty), social factors, and environmental/situational variables as contributing factors to excessive concerns about past pandemics. These factors in combination with unique characteristics of the virus (disease, behavioral, social and economic factors) and media consumption might enhance vulnerability to excessive anxiety about COVID-19, in line with a diathesis-stress model. COVID-19 is also unique from past pandemics due to its severity, easy transmissibility, and the nature of prescribed behavioral responses (i.e., hand washing and social distancing). We therefore discuss the ways in which COVID-19 may disproportionately affect individuals with OCD and health anxiety. We conclude with important topics for clinical and research attention to help mental health professionals respond in this time of crisis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.