"Loneliness is killing me?!": the subjective emotional experience of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: results of a cross-sectional study in patients with a psychiatric disorder.
Mona Schenk, Sabrina Baldofski, Fabian Hall, Tony Urbansky, Maria Strauß, Elisabeth Kohls, Christine Rummel-Kluge
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Abstract
Purpose: During the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in loneliness as well as mental health issues was detected. However, research on the association between loneliness and mental disorders is sparse. The aim of this study was to examine loneliness and associated social and emotional factors in patients with a psychiatric disorder and to investigate potential predictors of loneliness.
Methods: Participants were N = 230 patients currently receiving psychiatric treatment at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Leipzig, Germany. A cross-sectional survey included questionnaires on loneliness, life satisfaction, need to belong, interpersonal trust, stress, and resilience.
Results: Most participants (n = 91, 39.6%) suffered from depression, followed by anxiety disorder (n = 43, 18.7%). Significantly higher loneliness levels compared to norm samples were detected in all three loneliness questionnaires (all p <.05), and overall n = 128 (57.7%) reported to feel lonely. In addition, participants reported lower life satisfaction, lower interpersonal trust, and lower resilience than the general population (all p <.05). No significant differences in loneliness levels between different psychiatric diagnoses were revealed. It was found that lower satisfaction with life, lower interpersonal trust and lower resilience were significantly associated with higher loneliness (all p <.05).
Conclusion: This study underlines the importance to continue research on loneliness in people with mental disorders after the COVID-19 pandemic since the majority of patients reported to feel lonely. Further, tailored therapy-accompanying interventions to prevent loneliness in patients with a psychiatric disorder should be designed and evaluated to meet patients' diverse needs e.g., through online programs.
Trial registration: German Clinical Trial Registration: DRKS00023741 (registered on April 6, 2021).
期刊介绍：
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is intended to provide a medium for the prompt publication of scientific contributions concerned with all aspects of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders - social, biological and genetic.
In addition, the journal has a particular focus on the effects of social conditions upon behaviour and the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the social environment. Contributions may be of a clinical nature provided they relate to social issues, or they may deal with specialised investigations in the fields of social psychology, sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, health service research, health economies or public mental health. We will publish papers on cross-cultural and trans-cultural themes. We do not publish case studies or small case series. While we will publish studies of reliability and validity of new instruments of interest to our readership, we will not publish articles reporting on the performance of established instruments in translation.
Both original work and review articles may be submitted.
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