Mindfulness and Defense Mechanisms as Explicit and Implicit Emotion Regulation Strategies against Psychological Distress during Massive Catastrophic Events.

Emotion regulation is an important aspect of psychological functioning that influences subjective experience and moderates emotional responses throughout the lifetime. Adaptive responses to stressful life events depend on the positive interaction between explicit and implicit emotion regulation strategies, such as mindfulness and defense mechanisms. This study demonstrates how these emotion regulation strategies predict psychological health during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. A convenience sample of 6385 subjects, recruited via snowball sampling on various social media platforms, responded to an online survey assessing psychological reaction to social restrictions imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Italy. Psychological distress, post-traumatic stress symptoms, mindfulness, and defense mechanisms were assessed using SCL-90, IES-R, MAAS, and DMRS-30-SR, respectively. Higher mindfulness was significantly associated with higher overall defensive maturity and a greater use of high-adaptive defenses (p < 0.0001). Both mindfulness and defense mechanisms acted as good predictors of psychological health (R2 = 0.541) and posttraumatic symptoms (R2 = 0.332), confirming the role of emotion regulation in protecting against maladaptive responses to stressful situations.

Internalizing symptoms and family functioning predict adolescent depressive symptoms during COVID-19: A longitudinal study in a community sample.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown pose a threat for adolescents' mental health, especially for those with an earlier vulnerability. Accordingly, these adolescents may need increased support from family and friends. This study investigated whether family functioning and peer connectedness protects adolescents with earlier internalizing or externalizing symptoms from increased depressive symptoms during the first Dutch COVID-19 lockdown in a low-risk community sample. METHODS: This sample comprised 115 adolescents (Mage = 13.06; 44% girls) and their parents (N = 111) and is part of an ongoing prospective study on child development. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were self-reported a year before the COVID-19 lockdown. In an online survey during the first Dutch lockdown (April-May 2020), adolescents reported depressive symptoms and perceived peer connectedness, and parents reported family functioning. RESULTS: Twenty-four percent of adolescents reported clinically relevant symptoms of depression during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Depressive symptoms were significantly predicted by earlier internalizing, but not externalizing symptoms. Furthermore, higher quality of family functioning, but not peer connectedness, predicted fewer adolescent depressive symptoms. Family functioning and peer connectedness did not moderate the link between pre-existing internalizing symptoms and later depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: In a low-risk community sample, one-in-four adolescents reported clinically relevant depressive symptoms at the first COVID-19 lockdown. Higher earlier internalizing symptoms and lower quality of family functioning increased risks. These results indicate that even in low-risk samples, a substantial group of adolescents and their families are vulnerable during times of crisis.

How healthcare workers respond to COVID-19: The role of vulnerability and social support in a close relationships defense mechanism.

Healthcare workers play a vital role in the fight against COVID-19. Based on Terror Management Theory (TMT), the present research examined whether a close relationships defense mechanism reduces anxiety among healthcare workers (N = 729) in China. Our results suggest that this defense mechanism, as indexed by relationship satisfaction, serves as an effective terror management source after exposure to reminders of death (MS; mortality salience). These findings extend TMT by identifying two moderating variables: vulnerability and social support. In a low objective vulnerability group, healthcare workers who subjectively believed themselves as less vulnerable to COVID-19 showed a stronger defense mechanism after a MS manipulation as compared to those who felt more vulnerable. Further, healthcare workers with higher levels of social support reported more relationship satisfaction. These findings have practical implications for guiding healthcare workers on how to buffer death-related anxiety and maintain their mental health in the fight against COVID-19.

Activity of THC, CBD, and CBN on Human ACE2 and SARS-CoV1/2 Main Protease to Understand Antiviral Defense Mechanism.

THC, CBD, and CBN were reported as promising candidates against SARS-CoV2 infection, but the mechanism of action of these three cannabinoids is not understood. This study aims to determine the mechanism of action of THC, CBD, and CBN by selecting two essential targets that directly affect the coronavirus infections as viral main proteases and human angiotensin-converting enzyme2. Tested THC and CBD presented a dual-action action against both selected targets. Only CBD acted as a potent viral main protease inhibitor at the IC50 value of 1.86 ± 0.04 µM and exhibited only moderate activity against human angiotensin-converting enzyme2 at the IC50 value of 14.65 ± 0.47 µM. THC acted as a moderate inhibitor against both viral main protease and human angiotensin-converting enzymes2 at the IC50 value of 16.23 ± 1.71 µM and 11.47 ± 3.60 µM, respectively. Here, we discuss cannabinoid-associated antiviral activity mechanisms based on in silico docking studies and in vitro receptor binding studies.

Stress, Burnout, and Resilience among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Emergency: The Role of Defense Mechanisms.

The experience of working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 healthcare crisis has presented a cumulative traumatic experience that affects healthcare professionals' well-being. Psychological resources such as resilience and adaptive defense mechanisms are essential in protecting individuals from severe stress and burnout. During September 2020, 233 healthcare workers responded to an online survey to test the impact of demographic variables, COVID-19 exposure, and psychological resources in determining stress and burnout during the COVID-19 emergency. Frontline workers reported higher scores for stress, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization (p < 0.001) as compared to colleagues working in units not directly serving patients with COVID-19. Mature defensive functioning was associated with resilience and personal accomplishment (r = 0.320; p < 0.001), while neurotic and immature defenses were related to perceived stress and burnout. Stress and burnout were predicted by lower age, female gender, greater exposure to COVID-19, lower resilience, and immature defensive functioning among healthcare professionals (R2 = 463; p < 0.001). Working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to provoke greater stress and burnout. On the other hand, resilience and adaptive defense mechanisms predicted better adjustment. Future reaction plans should promote effective programs offering support for healthcare workers who provide direct care to patients with COVID-19.

From anxiety to action-Experience of threat, emotional states, reactance, and action preferences in the early days of COVID-19 self-isolation in Germany and Austria.

The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted everyday life virtually everywhere in the world, enabling real-life research on threat-and-defense processes. In a survey conducted within the first days of implementing social distancing measures in Austria and Germany, we aimed to explore the pathways from threat perception to preferences of defense strategies. We found that anxiety, approach-related affect, and reactance were specifically elicited by motivational (vs. epistemic) discrepancies. In a second step, we tested the mediating effect of anxiety, approach-related affect, and reactance on preferences regarding personal-social and concrete-abstract defenses. Experiencing anxiety was related to interest in security-related actions, and approach-affect was related to both personal projects and social media use. Participants experiencing reactance were more inclined to pursue personal projects (personal-abstract) and less interested in security-related (personal-concrete) actions. They also showed marginally lower system justification (social-abstract). Additionally, we examined the relationship of loneliness with defense strategies, showing that loneliness was associated with lower system justification and security behaviors. The results suggest that individuals deal with threat in their own ways, mostly depending on affective state and motivational orientation: Anxiety was related to security, approach-state to action (both social and personal), reactance to derogation of the system and disregard for security, while loneliness was associated with inaction.

Higher Executive Control Network Coherence Buffers Against Puberty-Related Increases in Internalizing Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Early pubertal maturation has been posited to be a biopsychosocial risk factor for the onset of internalizing psychopathology in adolescence; further, early-maturing youths exhibit heightened reactivity to stressful events. School closures and enforced social distancing, as well as health and financial uncertainties, during the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to adversely affect mental health in youths, particularly adolescents who are already at risk for experiencing emotional difficulties. The executive control network (ECN) supports cognitive processes required to successfully navigate novel challenges and regulate emotions in stressful contexts. METHODS: We examined whether functional coherence of the ECN, measured using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging 5 years before the pandemic (T1), is a neurobiological marker of resilience to increases in the severity of internalizing symptoms during COVID-19 in adolescents who were in more advanced stages of puberty at T1 relative to their same-age peers (N = 85, 49 female). RESULTS: On average, participants reported an increase in symptoms from the 3 months before pandemic to the 2 most recent weeks during the pandemic. We found that early-maturing youths exhibited greater increases in internalizing symptoms during the pandemic if their ECN coherence was low; in contrast, relative pubertal stage was not associated with changes in internalizing symptoms in adolescents with higher ECN coherence at T1. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the role of the functional architecture of the brain that supports executive functioning in protecting against risk factors that may exacerbate symptoms of internalizing psychopathology during periods of stress and uncertainty.

The contagion of mortality: A terror management health model for pandemics.

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, proliferates as a contagious psychological threat just like the physical disease itself. Due to the growing death toll and constant coverage this pandemic gets, it is likely to activate mortality awareness, to greater or lesser extents, depending on a variety of situational factors. Using terror management theory and the terror management health model, we outline reactions to the pandemic that consist of proximal defences aimed at reducing perceived vulnerability to (as well as denial of) the threat, and distal defences bound by ideological frameworks from which symbolic meaning can be derived. We provide predictions and recommendations for shifting reactions to this pandemic towards behaviours that decrease, rather than increase, the spread of the virus. We conclude by considering the benefits of shifting towards collective mindsets to more effectively combat COVID-19 and to better prepare for the next inevitable pandemic.