Assessment of the Psychological Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

The pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has affected the mental health of the general population, leading to an increase in depression, anxiety and stress. The results of the studies on the psychological effects of the pandemic in patients with psychiatric illnesses were contradictory in that some reported higher adverse effects in patients with psychiatric illnesses compared to the healthy control subjects, whereas some did not. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare the patients with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and the healthy control subjects in terms of certain psychological parameters during the pandemic period.

81 patients, who were diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and 80 healthy volunteers of matching characteristics were included in this study. Both the patient and control groups were administered a sociodemographic questionnaire, short form of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and the Revised Impact of Event Scale (IES-R). The resulting research data were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0 software.

No significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of depression, stress, intrusion, hyperarousal and avoidance. On the other hand, the increase observed in the anxiety symptoms was found to be significant in the patient group compared to the control group.

The findings of this study revealed that the depression, stress and trauma-related stress responses of GAD patients have not differred during the COVID-19 pandemic period, whereas that their anxiety levels have increased significantly, as compared to the healthy control subjects. In this context, it is recommended that the clinicians take into consideration that the pandemic may lead to an increase in the symptoms of individuals diagnosed with anxiety disorder.