ArticleBMC psychiatry2022
Individual changes in stress, depression, anxiety, pathological worry, posttraumatic stress, and health anxiety from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic in adults from Southeastern Germany.
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 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- An umbrella review of the prevalence of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic: Call to action for post-COVID-19 at the global level.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Acute Effect of a Saffron Extract (Safr'InsideNutrients · 2023Trial
- Did Religion Help Me?: Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Grenada.Journal of religion and health · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Impact of crisis intervention on mental health in the context of specific civilian emergencies.PloS one · 2025Article
- The prevalence and determinants of health anxiety during the covid-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- Psychological distress among individuals with a suicide attempt or suicidal ideation and suicide attempts patterns: first two years of the pandemic.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Stress and Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in the General Population and in SARS-CoV-2-Infected Patients-Findings from a Population-Based Three-Wave Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Relationship between COVID-19 Pandemic Confinement and Worsening or Onset of Depressive Disorders.Brain sciences · 2023Review
- Article
- Determinants of self-reported health status during COVID-19 lockdown among surveyed Ecuadorian population: A cross sectional study.PloS one · 2023Article
- COVID-19 stress syndrome in the German general population: Validation of a German version of the COVID Stress Scales.PloS one · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMany studies have previously compared the prevalence or sample means of distress and mental health problems from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic, while results on changes at the individual-level, and regarding multiple outcome measures are demanded.
methodsThis online study investigated individual changes in stress and mental health from before the COVID-19 pandemic to the first lockdown in adults from Southeastern Germany. This region was selected as it was where SARS-CoV-2 was first documented in Germany, and also due to the implementation of strict stay-at-home orders and social contact prohibitions. From April 10-27, 2020, we collected state measures and their clinical relevance for the subareas of perceived stress: worries, tension, joy, and demands. We also collected information regarding the following mental health problems: depression, anxiety, pathological worry, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and health anxiety; as well as retrospective measures of how participants felt they have changed in comparison to before the pandemic, ranging from worse to better.
resultsThe analytical sample comprised 396 adult participants. On average, participants experienced increases in worries, tension, and lack of joy, and increases in mental health problems, but a decrease in demands. Perceived increases in symptoms of depression (26.0%) and PTSD (25.5%) were significantly more frequent than in symptoms of anxiety (particularly acute fear and panic) (5.6%), pathological worry (9.8%), and health anxiety (7.3%) (ps<.001). One per 10 participants (10.4%) reported an increase in depressive symptoms, and nearly two per 10 (18.4%) an increase in PTSD symptoms and additionally showed a clinically relevant symptom strain during lockdown. Interestingly, mainly non-specific PTSD symptoms associated with a general stress reaction were experienced to be increased.
conclusionThe findings suggest a dissociation of perceived changes in subareas of stress and mental health with a particular experience of increases in depressive and general stress symptoms and a decrease in external demands. This points to a need for a more differentiated view on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress and mental health, and for targeted interventions for mental health problems arising frequently during the pandemic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.