Positivity and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in COVID-19 Survivors: Mediating Role of Rumination and Fear of COVID-19.

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic, which still continues to affect the whole world, has led to an increase in PTSD symptoms in societies, especially individuals who have been diagnosed with the disease and recovered are at significant risk for PTSD have been reported. Although it has been observed that PTSD symptoms of individuals who were infected in the past epidemics such as SARS and Ebola continued for a long time even after the epidemic, it is noteworthy that the studies conducted during the COVID-19 process do not focus enough on people who survived the COVID-19 disease. The purpose of this study is to determine the direct and indirect impact of positivity on PTSD symptoms of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 and the role of rumination and fear of COVID-19 as potential mediators in this effect. In the study, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Ruminative Response Scale, Positivity Scale, and Fear of COVID-19 Scale were applied to 551 Turkish participants, who survived the COVID-19 disease. SEM-based mediation analysis was used to test hypothesized relationships. Mediating roles of fear of COVID-19 and rumination between positivity and PTSD were tested. Results indicated that rumination and fear of COVID-19 had a full mediating role in the relationship between positivity and PTSD. These findings pointed out that positivity might be an indirect protective disposition against COVID-19-related PTSD and might reduce risk factors associated with PTSD among COVID-19 survivors. Mental health practices for COVID-19 patients should aim to increase positive thinking, since they have ruminative thoughts about transmission of the virus and hospitalization process and these thoughts may lead to negative mental health conditions. In this sense, positive psychology-focused implementations can be organized for COVID-19 patients and survivors.