Phenomenology of the COVID-19 Pandemic Experience in Patients Suffering from Chronic Schizophrenia—A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

Many studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic can have a great influence on mental health. However, there is still not enough research to fully understand how people suffering from schizophrenia experience crisis situations such as a pandemic. This qualitative study aims to explore this subject. Ten outpatients suffering from schizophrenia were interviewed in a semi-structured format using an interview designed by the authors for the purpose of this study. The interviews were transcribed, and a conventional qualitative content analysis was conducted. The general themes identified in the content analysis were organized into four categories: first reactions to information about the pandemic; subjective assessment of the pandemic’s impact on patients’ mental health; patients’ attitudes towards the temporary limitations and lockdowns; psychiatric treatment and psychotherapy during the pandemic. A variety of different experiences were observed, but the general conclusion arising from the study suggests that the majority of the interviewed patients coped quite well with the pandemic and that the observed reactions were similar to the reactions of other groups described in the literature. The study also confirmed the importance of the continuity of psychiatric care for patients with schizophrenia.

Experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic amongst individuals with severe mental health conditions and caregivers in South Africa: a qualitative study

“…These barriers to care may have an ongoing contribution to delayed health seeking behaviour, with the potential to further entrench health inequalities in this vulnerable group [20,56]. Although important disruptions to access to services were also present in HIC [47], many services in these settings implemented some form of telephonic or virtual support and 'checking in' [34,39,40,52]. The absence of such alternative support in LMIC such as South Africa may have contributed to the negative impacts of the pandemic.…”

“…The evidence from high-income countries indicates that in some contexts people with schizophrenia have coped with the stress and anxiety experienced during the pandemic similarly to the general population [39][40][41]. Research about the mental health impacts of the pandemic has largely neglected to examine the impacts on people with severe mental health conditions in LMIC who face pre-existing psychosocial challenges and inequalities [21,[42][43][44].…”

“…Apart from nancial deprivation, participants also described increased social isolation arising from lockdown measures. Social isolation and changes to people's 'social ecosystem', structure and routine have been documented across the globe since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, including in HIC [39,47]. Isolation and loneliness may increase symptom severity for people with mental health conditions [48][49][50][51].…”

The effects of sustained COVID‐19 emergency and restrictions on the mental health of subjects with serious mental illness: A prospective study

“…Unchanged levels of perceived stress in the patient group do not seem to underlie differences across diagnostic categories in facing the COVID‐19 pandemic, since the subgroup analysis for macrodiagnostic categories (i.e., mood disorder and psychosis) did not show significant results. These findings may rather suggest that subjects exposed to high rates of lifetime stressors are less prone to subjective report a worsening of symptoms (Fornaro et al, 2021 ), or that those who have access to mental health support in stressful situations tend to cope well (Kotlarska et al, 2021 ). In this respect, it should be emphasized that the telehealth service has ensured the continuity of mental health care protecting patients in our clinic as in many other facilities (Bashshur et al, 2016 ; Contreras et al, 2020 ; Hilty et al, 2013 ; Torales, Vilallba‐Arias, et al, 2022 ).…”

The Short-Term Consequences of COVID-19 on Mental Health: State of the Art from Available Studies

“…In this Special Issue entitled “The Short-Term Consequences of COVID-19 on Mental Health: State of the Art from Available Studies”, several research papers evaluate and discuss the consequences of the pandemic on mental health from different viewpoints, with contributions from research groups based in different parts of the world, from Hong-Kong to Italy. The contributions vary from the evaluation of psychological factors—such as defense mechanisms, personality traits and mentalization [ 57 ]—to the validation of new assessment tools (such as the Adaptation to Change Questionnaire (ADAPTA-10) [ 58 ] or the Korean Version of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (K-C19PS) [ 59 ], to the phenomenology of COVID-19 experience in patients with schizophrenia [ 60 ].…”