Impact of COVID related lockdown: Psychic distress on a sample of mood disorders outpatients vs a general population sample

SCOPO DEL LAVORO: We described the effects of quarantine on 101 Mood Disorder patients and 56 controls concerning their physical conditions, knowledge of the situation, adherence and tolerance to restrictions, and occurrence of (sub-)clinical syndrome MATERIALI E METODI: During lockdown the sample underwent a phone-visit in which the clinician used a short, not standardized tool created in the emergency of the current pandemic situation, asking the presence of stressors (fear of infection, frustration by restriction, inadequate supplies, inadequate information, financial problems) and unpleasant experiences (sleep disturbances, mood or anxiety symptoms, implementation of anxiolytics and/or hypnotics) A Chi-square test was used to examine statistically significant differences between patients and controls Bivariate correlation analyses have been carried out to evaluate the association between clinical (diagnosis, euthymia, and maintenance treatment duration) and demographic variables (age, sex, living alone, employment status) to quarantine stressors to identify predictive variables for multiple regression RISULTATI: Patients and controls showed indicators of quarantine-related psychological distress Unemployed and younger patients showed greater frustration (R2 = 07035605 F (3 95) = 3 4722 p < 0 01), greater somatic symptoms (R2 = 09893884 F (6 92) = 2 7934 p < 0 002), greater alertness (R2 = 10671232 F (6 92) = 2 9512 p < 0 007) and greater psychic anxiety (R2 = 06885487 F (2 96) = 4 6234 p < 0 008) The patient sample, compared to controls, had less fear of contracting the infection (53 5 vs 80 3% 2 = 11 1836996 p <0 0009), less psychic anxiety (44 5% vs 75% 2 = 13 5157221 p < 0 0003), fewer mood swings (40 6 vs 69 6% 2 = 12 1642312 p < 0 0005), less frustration (76 vs 94 6% 2 = 8 57007444 p < 0 004), less economic worries (45 5 vs 67 8% 2 = 7 20952771 p < 0 008) and less sleep disorders (29 7 vs 46 4% 2 = 4 39200801 p < 0 04) None of the 101 patients reported symptoms related to early disease recurrence CONCLUSIONI: Quarantine has been confirmed to be associated with phenomena of psychological distress Despite the risk represented by the changes in social and biological rhythms induced by the restrictions in our sample of mood disordered patients, we did not observe new recurrences of the disease, but it was possible to identify characteristics of greater vulnerability to psychological distress in unemployed and younger patients Although indirectly, the study also provided a preliminary assessment of psychological distress on the non-clinical population, which surprisingly showed greater fragility compared to patients in some areas This aspect suggests a possible risk of development of psychic pathology in patients currently not in charge of health facilities and the importance of risk indicators in the general population