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.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) produced critical effects, creating a worldwide health emergency
SCL-90-R levels appeared appropriate for a non-clinical population
SCL90 did not show any significant differences when comparing the levels of education, gender assigned at birth, or relationship status
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) produced critical effects, creating a worldwide health emergency. Institutions highlighted the impact of COVID-19 and related consequences on the mental health of the public [1], encouraging professionals and researchers to investigate ways to effectively cope with the related emerging problems. This was not an easy task, as the unique situation created by COVID-19 prevented the direct use of past knowledge of the literature. [3], depressive and anxious symptoms increased, and when compared to past studies, post-traumatic stress symptoms became common amongst people with positive cases nearby, a general consolidation of psychopathology emerged, and many changes in sleeping patterns and insomnia appeared [4]. From the start of the pandemic, the language used has changed [6], and it has been an important predictor of the public’s mental health [7]
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