Depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults in the context of both the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic
Background: This study sought to investigate the perceived influence of stressful events (i.e., the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the political situation, and the COVID-19 pandemic) on the depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults. The study also aimed to explore the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Affective Disorders Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915323000264 |
| _version_ | 1797845009374904320 |
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| author | Aleksandra Brągiel Małgorzata Gambin |
| author_facet | Aleksandra Brągiel Małgorzata Gambin |
| author_sort | Aleksandra Brągiel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: This study sought to investigate the perceived influence of stressful events (i.e., the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the political situation, and the COVID-19 pandemic) on the depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults. The study also aimed to explore the association between experiential avoidance and emotional distress. Method: 110 Polish social media users aged 18–89 completed online the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Psychache Scale and the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire-30 and questions concerning perceived influence of stressful event on their emotional functioning. Results: More than half of the participants (52.7%) reported experiencing a subjective increase in their depressive symptoms since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Interestingly, a larger percentage of participants associated their emotional distress with the outbreak of the war (44.6%) and the overall political situation (39.2%) than with the COVID-19 pandemic (27.2%). In addition, experiential avoidance was found to be associated with subjective increases in the participants’ depressive symptoms and emotional distress. Limitations: Cross-sectional character of the study, small sample size, and exclusive use of online data are main limitation of the study. Conclusions: Findings of our study can help planning preventive and therapeutic interventions for at-risk individuals to reduce negative long-term outcomes of the recent stressful life events in Poland. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:32:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-92ca13149219454ba3b876929579c946 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-9153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:32:38Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Affective Disorders Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-92ca13149219454ba3b876929579c9462023-04-18T04:09:17ZengElsevierJournal of Affective Disorders Reports2666-91532023-04-0112100487Depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults in the context of both the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemicAleksandra Brągiel0Małgorzata Gambin1Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, ul. Stawki 5/7, Warsaw 00-183, PolandCorresponding author.; Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, ul. Stawki 5/7, Warsaw 00-183, PolandBackground: This study sought to investigate the perceived influence of stressful events (i.e., the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the political situation, and the COVID-19 pandemic) on the depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults. The study also aimed to explore the association between experiential avoidance and emotional distress. Method: 110 Polish social media users aged 18–89 completed online the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Psychache Scale and the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire-30 and questions concerning perceived influence of stressful event on their emotional functioning. Results: More than half of the participants (52.7%) reported experiencing a subjective increase in their depressive symptoms since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Interestingly, a larger percentage of participants associated their emotional distress with the outbreak of the war (44.6%) and the overall political situation (39.2%) than with the COVID-19 pandemic (27.2%). In addition, experiential avoidance was found to be associated with subjective increases in the participants’ depressive symptoms and emotional distress. Limitations: Cross-sectional character of the study, small sample size, and exclusive use of online data are main limitation of the study. Conclusions: Findings of our study can help planning preventive and therapeutic interventions for at-risk individuals to reduce negative long-term outcomes of the recent stressful life events in Poland.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915323000264DepressionPsychacheExperiential avoidancePandemicWar |
| spellingShingle | Aleksandra Brągiel Małgorzata Gambin Depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults in the context of both the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic Journal of Affective Disorders Reports Depression Psychache Experiential avoidance Pandemic War |
| title | Depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults in the context of both the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults in the context of both the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults in the context of both the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults in the context of both the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by Polish adults in the context of both the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | depressive symptoms and psychological pain experienced by polish adults in the context of both the war in ukraine and the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | Depression Psychache Experiential avoidance Pandemic War |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915323000264 |
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