COVID-19 pandemic aggravates PTSD symptoms, anxiety and depression symptoms among victims
Adults victimized by physical violence, accidents and serious threats during the COVID-19 pandemic more often suffer from severe PTSD symptoms (28.1% versus 19.9%), anxiety and depression symptoms (37.6% versus 26.4%) than adults victimised before this pandemic. They also more often suffer from general mental health problems (30.4% versus 18.8%) and lower coping self-efficacy levels (19.0% versus 11.6%). Among non-victims, who less often suffer from anxiety and depression symptoms (circa 14.5%) and general mental health problems (circa 9.5%), these symptoms and problems hardly increased during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic measures. These are the main results of a new study by the Dutch institutes Centerdata, Fonds Slachtofferhulp and Tilburg University, and the German International Psychoanalytic University in Berlin.
The longitudinal study was conducted among 750 victims and 3,245 nonvictims and has just been published in the prestigious scientific journal British Journal of Psychiatry. It focused on two exclusive adult victim groups: those victimised during the COVID-19 pandemic (in the period March 2020-March 2021) and those victimised before this pandemic (March 2018-March 2019). The mental health, coping self-efficacy and social support of victims in March 2019 was compared with the mental of victims in March 2021. The group of nonvictims consisted of adults not victimized by physical violence, accidents and serious threats in the period 2018-2021.
No decrease in support and acknowledgement
Although adults victimized during this pandemic more often suffer from mental health problems, no indications were found that emotional support and social acknowledgement decreased compared to pre-outbreak levels. However, adults victimised before and during this pandemic both twice as often suffered from a lack of emotional support (circa 17.5% versus circa 8.5%) than nonvictims.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first large population-based study on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health, coping self-efficacy and social support of victims, that simultaneously examined the effects of this pandemic on nonvictims.
The finding that PTSD symptoms and other problems increased and that the coping self-efficacy decreased compared to pre-COVID-19 levels -while support levels remained stable but low- is of relevance for health care and victim assistance organisations.
Publication
Velden, P.G. van der, Contino, C., Das, M., Leenen, J., & Wittmann, L. (2022). 'Differences in mental health problems, coping self-efficacy and social support between adults victimised before and adults victimised after the COVID-19 outbreak: population-based prospective study'. British Journal of Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2021.226
Note to editors
For more information please contact Dr. Peter G. van der Velden via pg.vandervelden@centerdata.nl or pg.vandervelden@tilburguniversity.edu, or mob. +31 6 51851494.