Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on admissions to general hospital psychiatric wards in Italy: Reduced psychiatric hospitalizations and increased suicidality

Boldrini, Tommaso; Girardi, Paolo; Clerici, Massimo; Conca, Andreas; Creati, Chiara; Cicilia, Giuseppe Di; Ducci, Giuseppe; Durbano, Federico; Maci, Carlo; Maone, Antonio; Nicolò, Giuseppe; Oasi, Osmano; Percudani, Mauro; Polselli, Gian Marco; Pompili, Maurizio; Rossi, Alessandro; Salcuni, Silvia; Tarallo, Federica; Vita, Antonio; Lingiardi, Vittorio

doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2021.110304

Cited by 78 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…2020; Clerici et al., 2020 ; Castelpietra et al., 2021 ), but only one study evaluated differences in suicide ideation as the reason for the hospitalization. Boldrini et al. (2021) reported a 35% increase in suicide ideation in patients during the post-lockdown period (i.e., May 1–June 30, 2020), as compared to the rates observed in 2018 and 2019.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, increased suicide rates in the early months of the pandemic were not reported in several countries, including the USA, Australia, England, Japan, Norway and Switzerland ( Faust et al., 2021 ; Coroners Court monthly suicide data report 2020 ; Ambrosetti et al., 2021 ). Although research on this issue is appearing ateadily (e.g., Knudsen et al., 2021 ; Papadopoulou et al., 2021 ), data are still scarce regarding suicide ideation and suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic in many European countries, including Italy, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic ( Boldrini et al., 2021 ; Hawton et al., 2021 ; Mortier et al., 2021 ). Therefore, studies on suicide attempts and suicide ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic could provide helpful information on the effects of the pandemic on mental health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide ideation and suicide attempts in a sample of psychiatric inpatients

Berardelli

Sarubbi

Rogante

et al. 2021

Psychiatry Research

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There has been little research reported regarding both suicide ideation and suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic and government lockdown restrictions in Italy, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic. We investigated whether the frequency of suicide ideation and suicide attempts differed between psychiatric patients admitted to a psychiatric unit before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and government lockdown restrictions. We also assessed psychiatric diagnosis, length of hospitalization, and types of admission. We collected data on 632 psychiatric patients admitted to a public psychiatric clinic. Patients were divided into two different groups according to their admission before or during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results showed that only suicide attempts, but not suicide ideation, were more frequent in psychiatric patients admitted during the COVID-19 pandemic than before. Furthermore, mood disorder diagnoses were more frequent during the COVID-19 pandemic than before the pandemic. The types of admission and the mean length of hospitalization did not differ between the two groups. In conclusion the present study results adds consistent knowledge on the phenomenon of suicide during the challenging time of the pandemic, pointing to continuing effort in suicide prevention measures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide ideation and suicide attempts in a sample of psychiatric inpatients

Berardelli

Sarubbi

Rogante

et al. 2021

Psychiatry Research

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“…The rapid escalation of the Sars-Cov-2 outbreak to a pandemic in March 2020, following the first documented infection in mainland China in December 2019 (Li et al, 2020), triggered multiple psychological sequelae in the society at large. These effects were ubiquitous across global regions and population ages, with specific manifestations for particular social groups, such as the general population (e.g., Cao et al, 2020;Boldrini et al, 2021;Castellini et al, 2021), frontline workers (Nowicki et al, 2020;Salazar et al, 2020), and COVID-19 patients (e.g., Jiang et al, 2021). For the general population, the pandemic added an additional psychological burden on top of preexisting mental healthcare needs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does It Feel to Be Online? Psychotherapists’ Self-Perceptions in Telepsychotherapy Sessions During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

et al. 2021

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Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent extreme restrictions imposed by governments across the world forced psychotherapists to abruptly change their working modality. The first aim of the current study was to assess psychotherapists’ self-perceptions (i.e., affective and cognitive perceptions about their self and their self in relation to clients) when providing telepsychotherapy during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. The second aim was to explore the associations between psychotherapists’ self-perceptions, characteristics, and clinical practices.Method: An online survey was administered to 281 Italian licensed psychotherapists (Mage=45.15; SD=10.2; 83.6% female) between April 5 and May 10, 2020. The survey comprised ad-hoc questions that were designed to collect sociodemographic details and information related to working practices. Moreover, a semantic differential (SD) scale was developed to assess psychotherapists’ self-perceptions, and a factor analysis was performed from the SD items.Results: The SD scale showed an overall trend of positive psychotherapist self-perception during telepsychotherapy, despite reports of greater fatigue and directive and talkative behavior during sessions. Four SD factors accounted for 45% of the variance: “Affective Availability,” “Attitude Predisposition,” “Well-being,” and “Interventionism.” Scores on the first three factors were indicative of psychotherapists’ Positive vs. Negative self-perception. A comparison of the Positive and Negative attitudinal profiles using the chi-squared test with Yates’s correction and a Monte Carlo simulation found that psychotherapists with a Positive profile reported greater satisfaction with the telematic modality and were more likely to perceive that their clients were able to maintain privacy during sessions.Conclusion: The results suggest that Italian psychotherapists have been able to promptly adapt to the imposed telematic modality during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they may have attempted to compensate for their physical distance from clients by intervening more during sessions. These findings may support psychotherapists who are currently practicing and inform future practitioners who are considering the use of telematic treatment as a routine component of psychotherapeutic care.

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“…At the same time, we almost halved total admissions, with a median hospitalization time of about 10 days [6]. Another group of Lombardy replicated the data [7] and a multicentric research involving a number of Mental Health Departments in northern and central Italy also replicated this finding [8]. Thus, the available data confirmed that psychiatric patients did not attend to acute psychiatric wards as usual; inference was made that they were shifted toward community services (which never closed even in the hard lockdown period).…”

Section: Mental Health Services Under Stress?mentioning

confidence: 58%

The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Community Psychiatric Services in Northern Italy

Durbano¹,

Marchesi²,

Carnevali³

et al. 2021

Anxiety, Uncertainty, and Resilience During the Pandemic Period - Anthropological and Psychological Perspectives

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The Covid-19 pandemic, started brutally in February 2020 in Northern Italy (first European area hit by virus), has induced the most drastic and prolonged containment measures by a European government. The most affected areas of the Italian territory were Lombardy and Veneto. A severe and global lock-down was ordered for more than two months, with the closure of essential medical services among others. All health resources have been diverted to address the health crisis caused by the pandemic. During the lock-down, however, the only community medicine services that remained open were mental health services: psychiatry, the area of addictions, child neuropsychiatry. The community facilities have always provided services favoring, on the one hand, the maintenance of care and rehabilitation paths for patients in care, and on the other, allowing anyone who needs to have access to treatment. The operators were also involved at the forefront in the management of covid + patients and in the support paths for the management of the operators’ stress. In this chapter, we want to describe the working conditions and the organizational responses of our services, referring to a large catchment area of the region most affected by covid-19.

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Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on admissions to general hospital psychiatric wards in Italy: Reduced psychiatric hospitalizations and increased suicidality

Cited by 78 publications

References 37 publications

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide ideation and suicide attempts in a sample of psychiatric inpatients

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide ideation and suicide attempts in a sample of psychiatric inpatients

How Does It Feel to Be Online? Psychotherapists’ Self-Perceptions in Telepsychotherapy Sessions During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Community Psychiatric Services in Northern Italy

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