Mental Health Consequences of the Coronavirus 2020 Pandemic (COVID-19) in Spain. A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Background: Covid-19 remains a pandemic that most countries in the world are still dealing with. This is study aims to report the psychological impact of Covid-19 over time on the Spanish population. Methods: A longitudinal study (N = 1041) was carried out with two measurements: after 2 and 5 weeks starting from the declaration of the state of emergency in Spain. The presence of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disease (PTSD) was evaluated by means of screening tests. Sociodemographic data, variables about Covid-19, loneliness, spiritual well-being, social support, discrimination, and a sense of belonging were collected. Results: The data showed how depressive symptomatology increased significantly over time, while anxiety and PTSD did not show statistically significant changes. Spiritual well-being and loneliness were the main predictors of psychological impact. A younger age was a significant predictor of depression and anxiety, while female gender was associated with anxiety and PTSD. Conclusions: The impact of the pandemic is sustained over time, even increasing in depression, and vulnerable groups that need greater psychological health support could be identified.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; depression; postraumatic stress disorder; quarantine.

Figure 1

Mixed longitudinal models for depression (PHQ-2), anxiety (GAD-2), and PTSD (PCL-C-2) over time. The mixed longitudinal models presented significant time effect for the variable Phq2 (B = 0.31, p < 0.01) but not for the variables Gad2 (B = −0.014, p = 0.752) and PCL-C-2 (B = −0.072, p = 0.193). The standard deviations for the random slopes were 1.04, 1.18, and 1.49, respectively.