ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a collective trauma for the world population. Psychoanalytic literature has long proposed that dreams are a key point of access for understanding the deepest functioning of the mind. Using the multiple code theory (Bucci, 1993) as a framework, this study aims to explore the emotional and cognitive responses of the general population to COVID-19 through their dreams. A total of 613 dreams were collected in an online survey. Linguistic measures of referential process and a cluster analysis were performed, then one-way analyses of variance explored the differences in content among dreams' clusters according to the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Analysis suggested three dream clusters: Cluster A (N = 255) defines an arousal activation;Cluster B (N = 121) defines a phase of symbolization;Cluster C (N = 237) defines a phase of reflection/reorganization. The content analysis of LIWC presents significant differences among the three clusters (p < .05): Cluster A, compared to Cluster C, included less use of the term "we," more frequent reference to others, and more frequent use of words denoting certainty;Cluster B included more words of negation and more use of both the present tense and the verb "to have";Cluster C included less use of words referring to wishes and illusions. These results show differentiated functions of dreams in response to the pandemic experience, underlining the importance of dreams in the processing of this collective trauma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) Abstract (Chinese) 2019(COVID-19)-,COVID-19613(RP),ANOVAs,(LIWC),:A(N = 255);B(N = 121);C(N = 237) /LIWC(p<.05):C,A"","";B"";C, (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a collective trauma for the world population. Psychoanalytic literature has long proposed that dreams are a key point of access for understanding the deepest functioning of the mind. Using the multiple code theory (Bucci, 1993) as a framework, this study aims to explore the emotional and cognitive responses of the general population to COVID-19 through their dreams. A total of 613 dreams were collected in an online survey. Linguistic measures of referential process and a cluster analysis were performed, then one-way analyses of variance explored the differences in content among dreams' clusters according to the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Analysis suggested three dream clusters: Cluster A (N = 255) defines an arousal activation;Cluster B (N = 121) defines a phase of symbolization;Cluster C (N = 237) defines a phase of reflection/reorganization. The content analysis of LIWC presents significant differences among the three clusters (p < .05): Cluster A, compared to Cluster C, included less use of the term "we," more frequent reference to others, and more frequent use of words denoting certainty;Cluster B included more words of negation and more use of both the present tense and the verb "to have";Cluster C included less use of words referring to wishes and illusions. These results show differentiated functions of dreams in response to the pandemic experience, underlining the importance of dreams in the processing of this collective trauma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Abstract (Chinese) 2019(COVID-19)-,COVID-19613(RP),ANOVAs,(LIWC),:A(N = 255);B(N = 121);C(N = 237) /LIWC(p<.05):C,A"","";B"";C, (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic added additional burden upon healthcare systems and Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care physicians (AI) possessed crucial expertise for dealing with the pandemic. Aim of the study is to uncover specific burnout patterns among Italian AI exploring the hypothesis that burnout has a multi-cluster structure. Differences in social and professional characteristics between burnout patterns were explored. METHODS: One thousand and nine AI (658 women) members of Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) working during COVID-19 pandemic participate. Sociodemographic, working information and burnout levels evaluated through Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were collected. RESULTS: According to the MBI cut-off, 39.7% and 25.8% of participants scored high in Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization respectively, and 44.2% scored low in Personal Accomplishment. Cluster analysis highlighted four burnout profiles: Resilience, Detachment, Burnout, and Emotional Reserve. The results showed that AI in the Resilience and Emotional Reserve groups were significantly older and more experienced than those in the Detachment and Burnout groups. Additionally, more of the individuals in the Resilience group were working in intensive care units and departments dedicated to COVID-19 patients. The Detachment group was comprised of more AI working in operating units, while the Burnout group contained a higher number of AI working in COVID-19 departments. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight different burnout patterns in Italian AI: older age, more professional experience, and work in intensive care units and departments dedicated to COVID-19 seemed to be protective factors during the pandemic. This appear a first step to promote focused interventions.
ABSTRACT
(Chinese) 2019(COVID-19)-,COVID-19613(RP),ANOVAs,(LIWC),:A(N = 255);B(N = 121);C(N = 237) /LIWC(p<.05):C,A"","";B"";C, (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic posed a significant challenge to the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of each individual. It also brought the importance of daily emotional management for survival to the forefront of every human being. Our study aims to explore whether emotional processes perform different functions during waking thoughts and night dreams during the first lockdown in Italy. Utilizing Multiple Code Theory (MCT), our goal is to verify whether waking thoughts facilitate a functional disconnection in order to manage the trauma caused by COVID-19. Two online forms were distributed to random participants in the general population, presenting a total of 49 reports of night dreams (23 males; mean age 33.45 ds. 10.12; word mean 238.54 ds. 146.8) and 48 reports of waking thoughts (25 males; mean age 34.54 ds. 12.8; word mean M. 91 words ds. 23). The Referential Process linguistic measures and Affect Salience Index were utilized. It was found that Affect Salience is present in both dreams and in waking thoughts; however, Referential Activity was higher in dreams and Reflection and Affect words were higher in waking thoughts. Two different processes of emotional elaboration emerged. The results highlight the use of greater symbolization processes during dreams and a higher emotional distance in waking thoughts. These results confirm that during the nocturnal processes, there is greater contact with the processing of trauma, while during the diurnal processes, defensive strategies were activated to cope with and manage life via a moment of the defensive disruption of daily activities.
ABSTRACT
The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a collective trauma adversely affecting physical and psychological health. The impact of this trauma made itself manifest in a myriad of ways, including through dreams. This study aimed to explore the Referential Process (RP, Bucci, 2021) of dreams reported during quarantine. Dream samples were collected through a social blog. Linguistic analysis and clinical evaluation were conducted to explore the group's collective elaboration of a shared traumatic experience. Sixty-eight people (22 males; mean age 26.16 ds. 7.68) contributed to a social-blog, writing their dreams. 91 dreams were collected and transcribed using transcription rules for the Discourse Attributes Analysis Program (DAAP). Linguistic measures of RP were applied and a statistical cluster analysis was performed. In addition, each dream was evaluated by trained judges on three specific qualities of the RP (Arousal, Symbolizing, and Reflection/Reorganizing). Clinical judges in a double-blinded method reached reliable scoring (Arousal α.874 ICC 0.701; Symbolizing α.783 ICC 0.671; Reflection/reorganization α.884 ICC 0.758). Cluster Analysis yielded three dream clusters. 26 dreams fell under a cluster defined as a symbolizing process (Cluster A); 16 into a cluster defined as arousal of emotional activation (Cluster B); and 49 dreams fell into a cluster defined as Reflection/Reorganizing elaboration (Cluster C). Each cluster showed specific linguistic features. The dreams collected through a blog showed a Referential Process that is similar to that found in psychotherapy process. Results suggests that writing dreams can play different functions in processing and integrating social traumatic experience.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus pandemic is a unique collective event which has affected the physical and psychological health of all individuals. Restrictions imposed by governments to counteract this situation have represented risk factors for developing psychopathological symptoms. This study aims to explore the relationship between psychological symptoms and the referential process (RP). Forty-eight healthy participants (25 males, mean age = 39.3; SD = 16.6) completed a demographic questionnaire and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) through an online platform and wrote about their experience 3 weeks after the imposition of the lockdown. Different linguistic measures of the RP were applied to the narratives. The logical functions expressed through written narratives (The Italian Reflection Dictionary score, IREF) showed significant positive correlations with the SCL-90-R General Score Index (GSI) and different SCL-90-R subscales (depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsiveness, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, and paranoid ideation). On the contrary, the reorganization and reflection function related to emotional events (The Italian Weighted Reflection and Reorganization List score, IWRRL) showed significant negative correlations with the SCL-90-R's GSI and different subscales (obsessive-compulsiveness, depression, anxiety). The results highlight the relationship between psychological symptoms and complex defense mechanisms based on the intellectualization of negative emotions and a positive strategy of reorganization based on emotional elaboration. These results suggest the importance of supporting collective elaborations of citizens in the context of the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
(1) Background: The COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses a unique challenge as a severe global crisis affecting physical and psychological health. The main purpose of this work is to study the impact of a traumatic event while also observing the human ability to adapt. One of the first theories to study the adaptive importance of the evolutionary lineage of the affective systems is referred to as BrainMind (Panksepp, 2010). This study aims to explore whether primary emotional systems (PES) and emotion regulation (ER) strategies show differences between the pre- and post- lockdown period; and if positive systems and specific emotion regulation pre-pandemic act as a protective or risk factor for mental and physical wellbeing. (2) Methods: 98 participants who had participated in a previous study before the pandemic were re-contacted to refill the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS) and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) after the outbreak of the pandemic with the addition of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90R). (3) Results: The results showed that the COVID-19 lockdown rules had an impact on Emotional Regulation and on a re-balancing of PES. Moreover, pre-pandemic expressive-suppressive ERQ strategies and ANPS SADNESS scores appeared as relevant risk factors, which predicted higher Global Severity Index (GSI) scores during lockdown. (4) Conclusions: The lockdown appears to have activated PLAY and CARE as protective systems, but has detuned the ability to positively reinterpret the situation.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Emotional Regulation , Communicable Disease Control , Humans , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 outbreak has placed extraordinary demands upon healthcare systems worldwide. Italy's hospitals have been among the most severely overwhelmed, and as a result, Italian healthcare workers' (HCWs) well-being has been at risk. The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between dimensions of burnout and various psychological features among Italian healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 emergency. A group of 267 HCWs from a hospital in the Lazio Region completed self-administered questionnaires online through Google Forms, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Resilience Scale, and Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale Short Form (IU). Cluster analysis highlighted two opposite burnout risk profiles: low burnout and high-risk burnout. The high-risk group had lower resilience and greater difficulties in tolerating the uncertainty than the low-burnout group. A set of general linear models confirmed that both IU subscales, prospective and inhibition, moderated the relationship between resilience and burnout (specifically in the depersonalization dimension). In conclusion, the results showed that individual levels of resilience and one's ability to tolerate uncertainty have been significant factors in determining the impact of the COVID-19 emergency on HCWs. The use of emotional strategies that allow individuals to stay in a critical situation without the need to control it appears to protect against burnout in these circumstances.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus pandemic represents a severe global crisis, affecting physical, and psychological health. Lockdown rules imposed to counteract the rapid growth of COVID-19, mainly social restrictions, have represented a risk factor for developing depressive and anxious symptoms. The research aims are to explore the effect of coping strategies and perceived social support on depressive and anxious symptomatology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ninety-six healthy people (46 males, mean age = 39.3; SD = 16.6) completed through on-line platform: Socio-demographic questionnaire, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), 3 weeks after the imposition of lockdown restrictions. SCL-90-R Depression scores showed significant positive correlation with CISS Emotion (r = 0.85; p = 0.001) and Avoidant (r = 0.34; p = 0.018), a significant negative correlation with MSPSS Family support (r = -0.43; p = 0.003). SCL-90-R Anxiety scores showed a significant positive correlation with CISS Emotion (r = 0.72; p = 0.001) and Avoidant (r = 0.35; p = 0.016). No significant correlations between both CISS Emotion and Avoidant scales with social support emerged. Two Multiple Linear Regression analysis were performed using, respectively, SCL-90-R Depression and Anxiety scores as dependent variables, and the CISS and MSPSS scales, age, and gender as predictors. The first regression model (R 2 = 0.78; adjusted R 2 = 0.75) revealed CISS Emotion (ß = 0.83; p = 0.001) and MSPSS Family support (ß = -0.24; p = 0.004) had a predictive effect on SCL-90-R Depression scores. The second regression model (R 2 = 0.52; adjusted R 2 = 0.472) revealed that only CISS Emotion (ß = 0.71; p = 0.001) predicted the SCL-90-R Anxiety scores. In conclusion, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, coping focus on emotions seemed to increase anxious and depressive symptoms, probably due to the uncontrollable nature of the stressful event and the high emotional response. Family support which reduces the sense of loneliness had an exclusive role in mitigating depressive symptoms. These results highlight the importance of promoting psychological strategies to improve emotional regulation skills, reducing isolation from family, to prevent mood symptomatology in healthy citizens during large-scale health crises.
ABSTRACT
During the COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Italy, general practitioners (GPs) are ensuring continued access to primary care for citizens while also absorbing more of the impact of the crisis than most professional groups. The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between dimensions of burnout and various psychological features among Italian GPs during the COVID-19 emergency. A group of 102 GPs completed self-administered questionnaires available online through Google Forms, including Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Resilience Scale, Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale Short Form (IU), and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS). Cluster analysis highlighted four distinct burnout risk profiles: Low Burnout, Medium Risk, High Risk, and High Burnout. The High Burnout group showed both lower Resilience and lower CISS Task-oriented coping strategy than the Medium Risk group and higher IU Prospective than the Low Burnout group. Results of a linear regression analysis confirmed that CISS Emotion-oriented style positively predicted MBI Emotional Exhaustion, CISS Task-oriented and Emotion-oriented emerged as significant predictors (negatively and positively, respectively) of MBI Depersonalization, and Resilience positively predicted MBI Personal Accomplishment. In conclusion, the results showed that the COVID-19 emergency had a significant impact on GPs' work management. Implementing task-oriented problem management, rather than emotional strategies, appears to protect against burnout in these circumstances. It is possible that the emotions related to the pandemic are too intense to be regulated and used productively to manage the professional issues that the COVID-19 pandemic presents.