The role of COVID-19 - associated fear, stress and level of social support in development of suicidality in patients diagnosed with affective and stress - induced psychiatric disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparative analysis

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Dusan Kuljancic
 

University of Novi Sad, Serbia

: Int J Ment Health Psychiatry

Abstract

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Only a few studies seem to address suicidality as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in persons previously affected by psychiatric disorders. The relationship between fear and stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the level of social support and suicidality in patients diagnosed with affective and stressinduced psychiatric disorders prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic were investigated. This study was observational and involved 100 participants. The examined period was from April 2020 to April 2022. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), the Oslo Social Support Scale 3 (OSSS-3) and general psychiatric interviews were used to obtain data. A statistically significant relationship between the impact of COVID-19-related distress on the occurrence of suicidality and the year of the pandemic χ2(2, N = 100) = 8.347, p = 0.015 was observed. No statistically significant correlation was found between suicidal behavior, stress intensity, fear and the score on the social support scale (p > 0.05). Fear related to the COVID-19 pandemic can only be seen as a contributor to suicidality. Overall, social support does not always act protectively. Previously stressful experiences such as wars, poverty and natural disasters seem to play a significant role in the resilience to each new public health crisis.

Biography

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Dusan Kuljancic, has completed his PhD at the age of 25 years from Andhra University and postdoctoral studies from Stanford University School of Medicine. He is the director, a premier Bio-Soft service organization. He has published more than 25 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.