Obsessive-compulsive disorder (obsessive compulsive disorder) develops on the basis of anxiety and is manifested by the need to do certain things over and over again (so-called compulsions) or by repeated thoughts (obsessions).
In spring this year, researchers from the University of Aarhus in Denmark and the Danish Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Center sent a questionnaire to two groups of children and young people aged seven to 21 who had been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder at two different centers. Most of the subjects were diagnosed with the disease years earlier.
A total of 102 patients sent back the completed questionnaire. Almost half of the children and adolescents in one group assessed that their OCD symptoms had worsened. In addition, one third of people had worsened symptoms of depression, the same group had more anxiety problems, and one fifth had both depression and anxiety getting worse.
In the second group of children and young people, as many as 73 percent indicated that the symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder worsened, more than half said that anxiety had worsened, and 43 percent said that depression has worsened. The results of the study were published in the journal “BMC Psychiatry”.
>>> READ THE PREMIUM TEXT ABOUT THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS DURING THE EPIDEMIC
Author: It is important to study the impact of such a critical crisis on this disease
– This disease (OCD – ed.) Is of particular interest to study in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic because it expresses itself in many different clinical ways, including anxiety for health, fear of bacteria and dirt, and excessive hand washing and for disinfection. Therefore, it is important to investigate how such a significant crisis could affect the symptoms, prevalence and progression of this disease, commented lead author Judith Nissen.
Children and young people who reported on the questionnaire thoughts and fears that something serious would happen, for example, that they might become ill themselves or that they might lose family members, experienced the greatest worsening of OCD symptoms. This was most evident in children who began suffering from OCD at an early age.
“This is probably especially true for the youngest children”
– In children who already have a fear of loss, daily media coverage of illness and death and recommendations for isolation, as well as focusing on infection, can exacerbate these kinds of thoughts. This is probably especially true for the youngest children who find it harder to understand the seriousness of the infection and who are also dependent on their parents and grandparents and therefore most vulnerable to their loss, Nissen noted.
According to the authors of the study, children with OCD are prone to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and that this is manifested in particular by the fear that something bad will happen, including, for example, losing a loved one. As Nissen concluded, since the crisis is not yet over, it is very important to focus on the well-being of children with OCD as a group that is particularly vulnerable to the effects of this crisis.
Similar conclusions from other studies
This is not the first study that shows the deterioration of people’s mental health due to the epidemic situation and the associated strict restrictions in everyday life. One of them was conducted by the Central Council of Psychology (COP) in Madrid. This study shows that one in four people in Spain has symptoms of depression associated with the epidemic.
Poles are also concerned about their mental health resulting from the ongoing second wave of infections. According to the UCE RESEARCH and SYNO surveys, which we reported this month, it is 47 percent. citizens of our country.
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