The goal of the work is to study the dynamics of psychological changes unfolding during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper presents an analysis of the responses to the survey on the Internet, received from 03.22.2020 to 04.04.2020, when the spread of COVID-19 begins in Russia. The study was conducted on the Internet using Google Forms. Links to the survey were posted on social networks. The survey involved 430 people, including 188 people in Moscow, and the answers were divided into 3 groups with respect to the date when they were received: March 23–24 (79 people), March 29–30 (46 people), March 31–April 4 (63 people). The survey included a general block of questions and methods SCL-90-R, COPE, OKM97. Statistical processing was carried out with the SPSS statistical package. The results of the study show an increase in psychopathological symptoms (somatization, phobic symptoms, sleep disturbances), a decrease in the level of constructive thinking and indicators of emotional consciousness, an expansion of ideas about esoteric thinking, naïve optimism, categorical thinking, a turn to religion and a search for existential explanations for what is happening. In the Moscow sample, a V-shaped graphs were noted for the parameters of the level of depression, for the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, for the parameters for “turning to religion”, “esoteric thinking,” along with a constant increase in the level of anxious, phobic symptoms and somatization, which leads to the presence of the negation phase after the phase of shock and before the adoption of a situation. Conclusions: with prolonged situation a further increase in psychopathological symptoms is possible, which can have a wide range of negative consequences.

The study examines the relationship of moral choice and emotional intelligence, personal characteristics, implicit preferences, the ability to rely on emotional experience. The study involved 74 subjects: 40 healthy subjects and 34 patients of the MHRC. All subjects performed the following tests: "Moral dilemmas", Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT V2.0), Ich-Struktur-Test nach Ammon (ISTA), Implicit Association Test (IAT). It is demonstrated that the number of utilitarian choices in "personality" dilemmas increases with a deterioration in the ability to recognize the emotions of other people as well as with a decrease in ambivalence in assessing one's own state and reducing the ability to control emotions. When making decisions, people who make utilitarian choices rely on the experience of delayed negative consequences, their immediate emotional effect is reduced. Utilitarian personality choices increased with the reduction of capability to attack in a constructive way, to perceive personal fear and the fear of others with pathological narcissism, destructive internal and external restrictions. The preference of practical decisions is related to the implicit preference of "depth".

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic may bear serious consequences for mental health, such as the increase in psychopathological symptoms.ObjectivesAnalysis of changes in depressive suicidal ideation symptoms and during the COVID-19. Depressive symptoms and suicidality were considered separately.MethodsInternet survey 22.03.20–22.06.20 (908 responses), included SCL-90R, COPE, question about suicidal ideation.ResultsThe analysis showed a positive correlation between suicidal thoughts and depression (Spearman .45; p<.001), a growing trend in the depressive symptoms (Std.J-T=2.51, p=.012), and the increase in severity of suicidal thoughts (Fisher’s Exact Test, 5.92, p=.046). Severity of depression positively correlates with the emergence of the virus in the city, contraction of disease among friends (Spearman .165; p<.001), sick and die fears, an also is linked to more expressed seeking «emotional, social and instrumental help» (COPE). The intensity of suicidal ideation was not associated with these factors, but negatively correlated with «acceptance» and «planning».ConclusionsThe increase in depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts is determined by different factors. Depressive symptoms is associated with various fears and mediated by non-constructive ways of coping, but there are also constructive coping-strategies as the search for help. The intensity of suicidal thoughts is associated with higher levels of stress, which cannot be explained by the «objective» threat of contagion and fears, but is experienced as an «indefinite» anxiety, supposedly linked to the measures to counter the pandemic, such as restrictions on social interactions, loneliness and uncertainty. The increase in depressive symptoms is linked with an orientation to another person, but the suicidal ideation is not.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Пандемия COVID-19 является ситуацией, представляющей витальную угрозу для части человечества. Наличие у текущей пандемии таких факторов, как угроза для жизни, невидимость угрозы, неопределенность будущего, невозможность контролировать ситуацию, дает возможность сопоставить ее с ранее уже исследованными травматическими событиями, такими как наблюдение природной или техногенной катастрофы, участие в боевых действиях и т.д. Это дает возможность предположить у данного события высокую способность к генерации стресса в текущий момент и постстрессовых состояний в дальнейшем. Это диктует необходимость исследования особенностей психического состояния людей, ощущающих потребность в психологической помощи, для выделения мишеней работы специалистов-психологов.

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