COVID-19-related distress is associated with analogue PTSD symptoms after exposure to an analogue stressor.

ABSTRACT: Background: The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 was associated with an immediate increase in mental health problems in a significant percentage of the general population. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic - as a psychosocial stressor - affected the aetiological processes of mental disorders. Previous research has shown that stress potentiates associative (fear) learning and analogue symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that analogue PTSD symptoms can emerge in response to associative learning. Objective: We investigated whether distress in response to the COVID-19 outbreak support the development of intrusions and rumination after exposure to a non-COVID-19-related analogue trauma. Moreover, we examined if these effects are medi

SUBMITTER: Friesen E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9640168 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature