Primary emotions as predictors for fear of COVID-19 in former inpatients with Major Depressive Disorder and healthy control participants

Abstract

Introduction There are reports of an increase in depressive symptoms and fear during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular in patients with depression. This study investigates factors related to fear of COVID-19 in former inpatients suffering from depression and healthy controls by assessing variables typically associated with depression and anxiety disorders, i.e. stressful life events (SLEs), the primary emotions SADNESS, PLAY and SEEKING as well as dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies with respect to suppression and reappraisal. Methods Data of n = 44 former inpatients suffering from depression and n = 49 healthy controls were collected. The study had a longitudinal design with two measurement points. Before the pandemic, SLEs, primary emotions, emotion regulation and depression severity were assessed. During the pandemic, COVID-19 associated stressors and life events, emotion regulation, depression severity and fear of COVID-19 were assessed. Results Fear of COVID-19 and depression severity during the pandemic were significantly higher in former inpatients than in healthy controls. Depression diagnosis, SLEs and depression severity before the pandemic were significant positive predictors of fear of COVID-19. The primary emotion PLAY was a significant negative predictor of fear of COVID-19. Depression severity did not change significantly in healthy controls. Conclusion The results show that risk factors for depression might be risk factors for high fear of COVID-19. In addition, a playful personality could help preventing mental stress in pandemic situations. Thus, positivity based interventions could counteract elevated fear scores during a pandemic.

Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Depressive Disorders

“…The cited authors indicated associations of depression with SADNESS (β = 0.53), FEAR (β = 0.10), SEEKING (β = −0.10), and PLAY (β = −0.15). Comparable results were obtained in the pre-COVID-19 study conducted by Sanwald et al [86]. There were 44 patients treated for depression and 49 healthy controls in that project.…”

“…As a result, the primary PLAY emotion was significantly negatively associated with fear of COVID-19. Interestingly, while there was a (non-significant) positive association between SADNESS and fear of COVID-19 in the healthy controls, SADNESS was negatively associated with fear of COVID-19 in the former inpatients [86]. Sanwald et al [87] also confirmed the increased activity of the SADNESS system with decreased activity of the SEEKING system among young women suffering from depressive disorders compared to male subjects.…”

“…Inpatients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) scored significantly lower on the primary emotion SEEKING and PLAY than controls did. Inpatients, as compared to healthy controls, had significantly higher scores with respect to FEAR and SADNESS [86]. The study was repeated during the first year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (116 depressed patients and 91 healthy subjects).…”

Depression as a mediator between fear of COVID-19 and death anxiety

“…Their findings indicated a strong correlation between the FoC and anxiety and moderate correlations between the FoC, depression, and stress. In another study, Sanwald et al ( 2022 ) focused on primary emotions (i.e., play, sadness, and seeking) as determinants for the fear of COVID-19 in former inpatients with healthy control and major depressive disorder. Their results indicated that depression severity and FoC were significantly lower in healthy controls than in former inpatients.…”

On the associations between videoconference fatigue, burnout and depression including personality associations

“…Because the data collection was done during the COVID-pandemic, we also applied the Fear of COVID scale (FCV-19S) with seven items in the German version as put forward in ( Sanwald et al, 2022 ) as a control variable; original version ( Ahorsu et al, 2020 ). The scale is answered on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.…”