The Association of Grief with Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic
36 Pages Posted: 9 Dec 2022
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic and the socially disruptive measures implemented, losses of close contacts have occurred under exceptional circumstances, and it is reasonable to expect that many bereaved people would be unable to overcome their loss adaptively, resulting in dysfunctional grief leading to mental health alterations. We aimed to gauge the effects of bereavement on mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a cross-sectional study using a representative sample of 2000 Spanish adults (MIND/COVID study) surveyed by phone during the pandemic (February-March 2021). Logistic regressions were performed to examine the effects of grief levels, as measured with the Pandemic Grief Scale, on a range of mental health conditions. Dysfunctional grief was significantly associated to virtually all conditions, particularly depression (OR = 14.28; 95%CI = 3.94, 51.72), anxiety (OR = 11.61; 95%CI = 3.60, 37.40) and panic attacks (OR = 14.86; 95%CI = 5.05 - 16.88). In addition, suicidal thoughts and behaviors were higher in participants at any level of grief as compared to non-bereaved ones. Our results confirmed that the way in which the loss of a loved one is processed is associated with suffering from a variety of mental health conditions, showing the highest risk for dysfunctional mourners.
Note:
Funding Information: This study was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia, e Innovación, FEDER [grant number COV20/00711]; and the RESPOND project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme [grant number 101016127]. AG-P work is supported by the Secretariat of Universities and Research of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the European Social Fund (2021 FI_B 00839). JD-A has a “Juan de la Cierva” research contract awarded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain (FJC2019–038955 I) and PM has a “Miguel Servet” research contract and project awarded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FSE+ (CP21/00078).
Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no conflicts of interest, neither financial nor non-financial.
Ethics Approval Statement: Ethical approval from the relevant ethical committees (Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain (PIC 86–20) and Parc de Salut Mar Clinical Research Ethics Committee (protocol 2020/9203/I)) was obtained.
Keywords: bereavement, dysfunctional grief, Depression, Anxiety, panic attacks
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation