Early maladaptive schemas and COVID‐19 anxiety: The mediational role of mistrustfulness and vulnerability to harm and illness

Abstract

Background Early maladaptive schemas (EMS), as lifelong psychological structures, tend to be associated with psychopathological symptomatology. Previous research has suggested that schemas act as psychological vulnerabilities to stressful life situations, such as the present worldwide COVID‐19 pandemic. In this context, anxiety and psychological distress have been documented as two of the main psychological symptoms associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic. However, the associations between specific EMS and COVID‐19 anxiety remain unexplored. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationships between EMS, COVID‐19 anxiety as well as other mental health variables such as psychological well‐being, distress and life satisfaction. Methods In a cross‐sectional design, 249 individuals (M = 34.2, SD = 12.0) completed several self‐report measures. Results EMS from different schematic domains were positively associated with COVID‐19 anxiety and psychological distress and negatively associated with psychological well‐being and life satisfaction. An EMS hierarchical regression model predicted COVID‐19 anxiety. Mistrustfulness and vulnerability to harm and illness mediated the relationships between COVID‐19 anxiety, psychological distress and life satisfaction. Conclusions According to these results, mistrustfulness and vulnerability to harm and illness can act as underlying variables for the decrease in mental health associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Motivations of Human Helping Behavior towards Dogs

“…The presence of activated maladaptive schemas, irrational thoughts and beliefs, and psychological inflexibility has a considerable importance when referring to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on human–dog relationships [ 19 ]. The government restrictions, as well as social isolation, work loss, and mourning, became relevant stressors that could have impacted people’s vulnerability to stressful life situations, which has been related to the activation of schemas [ 56 ]. The maladaptive schemas from different domains were indeed positively associated with COVID-19 anxiety and psychological distress [ 56 ].…”

“…The government restrictions, as well as social isolation, work loss, and mourning, became relevant stressors that could have impacted people’s vulnerability to stressful life situations, which has been related to the activation of schemas [ 56 ]. The maladaptive schemas from different domains were indeed positively associated with COVID-19 anxiety and psychological distress [ 56 ]. The affection between human and dogs is well known as an effective way to reduce stress during stress-prone conditions and to help in buffering depression and anxiety in the context of social isolation [ 19 , 20 , 23 , 57 ].…”

Path analysis from COVID‐19 perceptions to psychological health: The roles of critical distance and mastery

“…This can be ilustrated in the following example. Faustino et al ( 2022 ), showed that early maladaptive schemas of vulnerability to harm and illness and mistrusfulness are significant mediators of the relationship between COVID‐19 anxiety and psychological well‐being. Probably, cognitive‐affective schemas with dysfunctional contents, such as vulnerability, distrust and pessimism, are likely be more associated with COVID‐19 anxiety, rather that metacognitive abilites (e.g., critical distance and mastery), due to biased information processing resulting from schematic content.…”

“…It was declared on 11 March of 2020 a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020a ) and caused millions of deaths worldwide (WHO, 2020b ). Thus, it is imperative to continue to uncover the psychological mechanisms underlying COVID‐19 perceptions and psychopathological symptoms, to enhance psychological interventions (Faustino, Branco Vasco, Delgado, Farinha‐Fernandes, & Guerreiro, 2021 ; Faustino et al, 2022 ; Prout et al, 2020 ). While previous studies documented associations between psychopathological symptoms and the COVID‐19 pandemic (Faustino, Branco Vasco, Delgado, Farinha‐Fernandes, & Guerreiro, 2021 ; Conversano et al, 2020 ; Lee & Crunk, 2020 ; Qiu et al, 2020 ; Salari et al, 2020 ; Silva Moeira et al, 2021 ), the search for underlying psychological mechanisms is still sparse.…”

Minding my brain: Fourteen neuroscience‐based principles to enhance psychotherapy responsiveness

“…These elements when having an intrinsic value to the individual tend to be encoded, stored and recalled during lifetime. Experience‐based schemas are used to make meaning of the internal and external worlds acting as templates for cognitive and affective processing (Faustino, 2022; Faustino & Vasco, 2020a; Faustino et al, 2022). Thus, schematic functioning is, in part, determined by the number of mental elements that activate and cluster together in the flow of consciousness (Faustino, Branco Vasco, Dimaggio, et al, 2021; Siegel, 2012).…”