ArticleBMC psychiatry2022
PTSD is not the emblematic disorder of the COVID-19 pandemic; adjustment disorder is.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Daily routine disruptions and psychiatric symptoms amid COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of data from 0.9 million individuals in 32 countries.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Psychometric revalidation of the SPRINT-E scale for assessing post-traumatic stress in Latin American populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- Cognitive inflexibility, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and traits and poor post-pandemic adjustment.Neuroscience applied · 2024Review
- One-year predictors of PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and depression in SARS-CoV-2 survivors: psychological flexibility and major life events as main predictive factors.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Trajectories of Adjustment Disorder and Well-Being in Austria and Croatia during 20 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Depression and Anxiety Symptoms "Among the Waves" of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Adjustment Disorder Patients.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Symptoms and risk factors of depression and PTSD in the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal survey conducted from 2020 to 2022 in Japan.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
- Group early intervention eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy as a video-conference psychotherapy with frontline/emergency workers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and moral injury-An RCT study.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Examining the Longitudinal Associations between Adjustment Disorder Symptoms and Boredom during COVID-19.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Two Years of COVID-19 in Austria-Exploratory Longitudinal Study of Mental Health Outcomes and Coping Behaviors in the General Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Narratives of the worst experiences associated with peritraumatic distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed method study in the USA and Italy.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Article
- Commentary: Pandemic exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder, conflict behaviors, and online aggressive behaviors among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining the moderating role of gender.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
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11 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been hailed by some as the emblematic mental disorder of the COVID-19 pandemic, assuming that PTSD's life-threat criterion was met de facto. More plausible outcomes like adjustment disorder (AD) have been overlooked.
methodsAn online cross-sectional survey was launched in the initial stage of the pandemic using a convenience sample of 5 913 adults to compare the prevalence of COVID-related probable PTSD versus probable AD. The abridged Impact of Event Scale - Revised (IES-6) assessed the severity of trauma- and stressor-related symptoms over the previous week. Demographic and pandemic-related data (e.g., receiving a formal diagnosis of COVID-19, job loss, loss of loved one, confinement, material hardship) were collected. A Classification and Regression Tree analysis was conducted to uncover the pandemic experiences leading to clinical 'caseness'. Caseness was defined by a score > 9 on the IES-6 symptom measure and further characterized as PTSD or AD depending on whether the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory's life-threat item was endorsed or not.
resultsThe participants were predominantly Caucasian (72.8%), women (79.2%), with a university degree (85%), and a mean age of 42.22 (SD = 15.24) years; 3 647 participants (61.7%; 95%CI [60.4, 63.0]) met the threshold for caseness. However, when perceived life-threat was accounted for, only 6.7% (95%CI [6.1, 7.4]) were classified as PTSD cases, and 55% (95%CI [53.7, 56.2]) as AD cases. Among the AD cases, three distinct profiles emerged marked by the following: (i) a worst personal pandemic experience eliciting intense fear, helplessness or horror (in the absence, however, of any life-threat), (ii) a pandemic experience eliciting sadness/grief, and (iii) worrying intensely about the safety of significant others.
conclusionsStudies considering the life-threat criterion as met de facto during the pandemic are confusing PTSD for AD on most counts. This misconception is obscuring the various AD-related idioms of distress that have emerged during the pandemic and the actual treatment needs.
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