Divergent psychological stress response patterns to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs. without PTSD: A real-world exploratory study.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been shown to increase psychological burden and requires efficient coping strategies to maintain mental health. In particular, it remains unclear which pandemic-related stress response pattern occurs in pre-existing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the pandemic -...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318839 |
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| author | Marit Treptow Claudia Bartels Mirjana Ruhleder Alexander Kratzenberg Thorgund Reh-Bergen Mona Abdel-Hamid Luisa Heß Jörg Signerski-Krieger Katrin Radenbach Björn-Hendrik Schott Jens Wiltfang Claus Wolff-Menzler Ulrike Schmidt Michael Belz |
| author_facet | Marit Treptow Claudia Bartels Mirjana Ruhleder Alexander Kratzenberg Thorgund Reh-Bergen Mona Abdel-Hamid Luisa Heß Jörg Signerski-Krieger Katrin Radenbach Björn-Hendrik Schott Jens Wiltfang Claus Wolff-Menzler Ulrike Schmidt Michael Belz |
| author_sort | Marit Treptow |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic has been shown to increase psychological burden and requires efficient coping strategies to maintain mental health. In particular, it remains unclear which pandemic-related stress response pattern occurs in pre-existing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the pandemic - at the same time these patients potentially exhibit dysfunctional coping of artificially generated psychosocial stressors. To analyze this so far widely unconsidered pandemic-related stress response in PTSD, this study longitudinally measured psychosocial burden and adjustment disorder (AD) symptom load in 14 patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of PTSD vs. a cohort of 145 psychiatric patients without PTSD. The previously established Goettingen psychosocial Burden and Symptom Inventory (Goe-BSI) was used. Patients were interviewed at the end of the first (April/May 2020) and the second nationwide lockdown in Germany (November/December 2020). In our convenience sample, psychiatric disorders were diagnosed by patients' treating clinicians prior to study inclusion. Psychosocial burden and AD symptom load were significantly higher in patients with PTSD than in patients without PTSD over the course of the pandemic (both p = .005). Moreover, explorative analysis of Goe-BSI-assessed general psychiatric symptoms did not reveal changes during the pandemic in patients with PTSD. In sum, we provide preliminary evidence that, in relation to psychiatric patients without PTSD, those with PTSD might experience a higher pandemic-related burden and might thus cope less efficiently with this enduring real-world stressor. This study is limited inter alia by the small sample size and by the underrepresentation of some psychiatric diagnoses. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-da3cc71f40364395a1aa832d0fe6e355 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-da3cc71f40364395a1aa832d0fe6e3552025-08-20T02:08:23ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01204e031883910.1371/journal.pone.0318839Divergent psychological stress response patterns to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs. without PTSD: A real-world exploratory study.Marit TreptowClaudia BartelsMirjana RuhlederAlexander KratzenbergThorgund Reh-BergenMona Abdel-HamidLuisa HeßJörg Signerski-KriegerKatrin RadenbachBjörn-Hendrik SchottJens WiltfangClaus Wolff-MenzlerUlrike SchmidtMichael BelzThe COVID-19 pandemic has been shown to increase psychological burden and requires efficient coping strategies to maintain mental health. In particular, it remains unclear which pandemic-related stress response pattern occurs in pre-existing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the pandemic - at the same time these patients potentially exhibit dysfunctional coping of artificially generated psychosocial stressors. To analyze this so far widely unconsidered pandemic-related stress response in PTSD, this study longitudinally measured psychosocial burden and adjustment disorder (AD) symptom load in 14 patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of PTSD vs. a cohort of 145 psychiatric patients without PTSD. The previously established Goettingen psychosocial Burden and Symptom Inventory (Goe-BSI) was used. Patients were interviewed at the end of the first (April/May 2020) and the second nationwide lockdown in Germany (November/December 2020). In our convenience sample, psychiatric disorders were diagnosed by patients' treating clinicians prior to study inclusion. Psychosocial burden and AD symptom load were significantly higher in patients with PTSD than in patients without PTSD over the course of the pandemic (both p = .005). Moreover, explorative analysis of Goe-BSI-assessed general psychiatric symptoms did not reveal changes during the pandemic in patients with PTSD. In sum, we provide preliminary evidence that, in relation to psychiatric patients without PTSD, those with PTSD might experience a higher pandemic-related burden and might thus cope less efficiently with this enduring real-world stressor. This study is limited inter alia by the small sample size and by the underrepresentation of some psychiatric diagnoses.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318839 |
| spellingShingle | Marit Treptow Claudia Bartels Mirjana Ruhleder Alexander Kratzenberg Thorgund Reh-Bergen Mona Abdel-Hamid Luisa Heß Jörg Signerski-Krieger Katrin Radenbach Björn-Hendrik Schott Jens Wiltfang Claus Wolff-Menzler Ulrike Schmidt Michael Belz Divergent psychological stress response patterns to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs. without PTSD: A real-world exploratory study. PLoS ONE |
| title | Divergent psychological stress response patterns to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs. without PTSD: A real-world exploratory study. |
| title_full | Divergent psychological stress response patterns to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs. without PTSD: A real-world exploratory study. |
| title_fullStr | Divergent psychological stress response patterns to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs. without PTSD: A real-world exploratory study. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Divergent psychological stress response patterns to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs. without PTSD: A real-world exploratory study. |
| title_short | Divergent psychological stress response patterns to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs. without PTSD: A real-world exploratory study. |
| title_sort | divergent psychological stress response patterns to the covid 19 pandemic in psychiatric patients with vs without ptsd a real world exploratory study |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318839 |
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