Work

Obsessive–Compulsive Symptoms in the General Population Under Stressful Conditions: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on mental health in the general population. The fear, stress, and uncertainty surrounding that traumatic pe-riod could have contributed to the aggravation or possible new onset of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Materials and Methods The COvid Mental hEalth Trial (COMET) is a nationwide project organized by the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" designed as an observational investigation that aimed to gather data from a representative sample of the Italian general population. The current study is a report from the main project and it focuses on OC symptoms. Results A total sample of N=20,720 took part in the survey. N=2332 individuals had a total OCI-R score greater than or equal to 21 (11.3% of the entire sam-ple), indicating the presence of clinically relevant obsessive compulsive symptoms. By excluding patients with a history of previous mental disorders, we still obtained a high number of individuals with OCI-R greater than or equal to 21 (N=2024), representing 10.3% of the overall sample, possibly in-dicating a new incidence of OC symptoms during the pandemic. Discussion Our study highlights a substantial new incidence of obsessive compulsive symptoms in the general public. Some risk factors or red flags should be paid particular attention to in order to prevent development of OC symptoms during a critical and traumatic event such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Brain Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14121280