Prevalence and Characterization of Specific Phobia Disorder in People over 65 Years Old in a Madrid Community Sample (Spain) and its Relationship to Quality of Life

The impact of leader safety communication on work engagement under pandemic: The effect of OBSE and anxiety based on COVID-19

Introduction

The outbreak of COVID-19 has a great impact on employees daily work and psychology. Therefore, as leaders in organization, how to alleviate and avoid the negative impact of COVID-19 so that employees can maintain a positive working attitude has become a problem to be worthy paying attention.

Methods

In this paper, we adopted a time-lagged cross-sectional design to test our research model empirically. The data from a sample of 264 participants in China were collected using existing scales in recent studies, and were used for testing our hypothesizes.

Results

The results show that leader safety communication based on COVID-19 will positively affect employees' work engagement (b = 0.47, p < 0.001), and organization-based self-esteem plays a full mediating role in the relationship between leader safety communication based on COVID-19 and work engagement (0.29, p < 0.001). In addition, anxiety based on COVID-19 positively moderates the relationship between leader safety communication based on COVID-19 and organization-based self-esteem (b = 0.18, p < 0.01), that is, when anxiety based on COVID-19 is at higher level, the positive relationship between leader safety communication based on COVID-19 and organizational-based self-esteem is stronger, and vice versa. It also moderates the mediating effect of organization-based self-esteem on the relationship between leader safety communication based on COVID-19 and work engagement as well (b = 0.24, 95% CI = [0.06, 0.40]).

Discussion

Based on Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this paper investigates the relationship between leader safety communication based on COVID-19 and work engagement, and examines the mediating role of organization-based self-esteem and the moderating role of anxiety based on COVID-19.

Chinese college students COVID-19 phobia and negative moods: Moderating effects of physical exercise behavior

OBJECTIVE

We investigated the effects of COVID-19 fear on negative moods among college students, and assessed the efficacy of physical exercise behavior as a moderator variable.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study. Students from three colleges and universities in Shangqiu City, Henan Province and Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province were enrolled in this study, which was performed during the COVID-19 pandemic using an online questionnaire. A total of 3,133 college students completed the questionnaire. Measurement tools included the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S), Depression-Anxiety-Stress Self-Rating Scale (DASS), and the Physical Activity Behavior Scale (PARS-3).

RESULTS

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the rates of depression, anxiety, and stressful negative moods among college students were 35.5, 65.5, and 10.95%, respectively; there was a positive correlation between COVID-19 fear and negative moods among college students (r = 0.479, p < 0.001), which was negatively correlated with physical exercise behavior (r = -0.4, p < 0.001); the regulating effects of physical exercise behavior were significant (ΔR2 = 0.04, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The rate of negative moods among college students is high, and the fear for COVID-19 is one of the key factors that lead to negative moods. Physical exercise can modulate the impact of COVID-19 fear among college students on negative moods. Studies should elucidate on mental health issues among different populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Combined Fainting and Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures as Significant Therapy Hurdles in Blood-Injury-Injection Phobia: A Mini-Review and Case Report

BACKGROUND

Anxiety disorders are the most frequent mental disorders. Among the different subtypes, specific phobias are the commonest. Due to the ongoing SARS-CoV-19 pandemic, blood-injury-injection phobia (BII) has gained wider attention in the context of large-scale vaccination campaigns and public health. In this BII phobia mini-review and case report, we describe the successful treatment of a severe BII phobia case with combined fainting and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) and demonstrate the role of specialized outpatient care.

CASE REPORT

The patient was a 28-year-old woman. She suffered from intense fear and recurrent fainting with regard to needles, injections, injuries, and at the sight of blood since early childhood. Medical history revealed infrequent events suggestive of PNES following panic attacks after sustained exposure to phobic stimuli. Family history was positive for circulation problems and BII fears. Psychopathological evaluation confirmed BII phobia symptoms and diagnosis was made according to the DSM-5. The Multidimensional Blood/Injury Phobia Inventory short version (MBPI-K) revealed severe manifestation of the disease. Neurological examination was ordinary. Repeated electroencephalography detected no epileptic pattern. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed normal morphology. Treatment was carried out by a seasoned, multidisciplinary team. Cognitive behavior therapy and exposure were performed. Modification of standard treatment protocol was necessary due to hurdles posed by recurrent fainting and a severe panic-triggered dissociative PNES during in vivo exposure. Modification was implemented by limiting in vivo exposure intensity to moderate anxiety levels. In addition to applied muscle tension and ventilation techniques, increased psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, and distress tolerance skills (e.g., ice pack, verbal self-instructions) were used to strengthen the patient's situational control during in vivo exposure. A total of 15 sessions were performed. Therapy success was proven by 83% reduction in MBPI-K rating, SARS-CoV-19 vaccination, and a blood draw without psychological assistance, fainting, or seizure.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, this case demonstrates the potential of and need for specialized outpatient care and individualized treatment for severe BII phobia patients in order to provide them the perspective to have necessary medical procedures done and get vaccinated.

Perceived helpfulness of treatment for specific phobia: Findings from the World Mental Health Surveys

BACKGROUND

Although randomized trials show that specific phobia treatments can be effective, it is unclear whether patients experience treatment as helpful in clinical practice. We investigated this issue by assessing perceived treatment helpfulness for specific phobia in a cross-national epidemiological survey.

METHODS

Cross-sectional population-based WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys in 24 countries (n=112,507) assessed lifetime specific phobia. Respondents who met lifetime criteria were asked whether they ever received treatment they considered helpful and the number of professionals seen up to the time of receiving helpful treatment. Discrete-event survival analysis was used to calculate conditional-cumulative probabilities of obtaining helpful treatment across number of professionals seen and of persisting in help-seeking after prior unhelpful treatment.

RESULTS

23.0% of respondents reported receiving helpful treatment from the first professional seen, whereas cumulative probability of receiving helpful treatment was 85.7% after seeing up to 9 professionals. However, only 14.7% of patients persisted in seeing up to 9 professionals, resulting in the proportion of patients ever receiving helpful treatment (47.5%) being much lower than it could have been with persistence in help-seeking. Few predictors were found either of perceived helpfulness or of persistence in help-seeking after earlier unhelpful treatments.

LIMITATIONS

Retrospective recall and lack of information about either types of treatments received or objective symptomatic improvements limit results.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite these limitations, results suggest that helpfulness of specific phobia treatment could be increased, perhaps substantially, by increasing patient persistence in help-seeking after earlier unhelpful treatments. Improved understanding is needed of barriers to help-seeking persistence.

Tips for Effective Implementation of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy in Phobias-A Systematic Review

Background: The high incidence of phobias and the limited accessibility of psychotherapy are the reasons for the search for alternative treatments that increase the availability of effective treatment. The use of virtual reality (VR) technology is an option with the potential to overcome the barriers in obtaining an effective treatment. VR exposure therapy (VRET) is based on a very similar rationale for in vivo exposure therapy. The study aimed to answer the question of how to perform exposure therapy in a virtual reality environment so that it is effective. Methods: A systematic review of the literature, using PRISMA guidelines, was performed. After analysis of 362 records, 11 research papers on agoraphobia, 28 papers on social phobia and 10 about specific phobias were selected for this review. Results: VRET in agoraphobia and social phobia is effective when performed from 8 to 12 sessions, on average once a week for at least 15 min. In turn, the treatment of specific phobias is effective even in the form of one longer session, lasting 45-180 min. Head mounted displays are an effective technology for VRET. Increasing the frequency of sessions and adding drug therapy may shorten the overall treatment duration. The effectiveness of VRET in phobias is greater without concomitant psychiatric comorbidity and on the condition of inducing and maintaining in the patient an experience of immersion in the VR environment. Long-term studies show a sustained effect of VRET in the treatment of phobias. Conclusion: A large number of studies on in VR exposure therapy in phobias allows for the formulation of some recommendations on how to perform VRET, enabling the effective treatment. The review also indicates the directions of further VRET research in the treatment of phobias.

Brain and COVID-19 Crosstalk: Pathophysiological and Psychological Manifestations

The world is experiencing one of the major viral outbreaks of this millennium, caused by a plus sense single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the Coronaviridae family, COVID-19, declared as pandemic by WHO. The clinical manifestations vary from asymptomatic to mild symptoms like fever, dry cough, and diarrhea, with further increase in severity leading to the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Though primary manifestations are respiratory and cardiac, various studies have shown the neuroinvasive capability of this virus resulting in neurological complications, which sometimes can precede common typical symptoms like fever and cough. Common neurological symptoms are headache, dizziness, anosmia, dysgeusia, confusion, and muscle weakening, progressing toward severe complications like cerebrovascular disease, seizures, or paralysis. Older adults and critically ill people are in the high risk group and have shown severe neurological symptoms upon infection. COVID-19 also has a profound impact on the mental health of people across the world. In this review, we briefly discuss the neurological pathologies and psychological impact due to COVID-19, which has not only stressed the physical health of people but has also created social and economic problems resulting in mental health issues.

The development and initial tests for the psychometric properties of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S)

Researchers predict that the negative effects of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will continue . These negative effects are not solely limited to psycho-pathological problems. Serious physiological, social, and economical difficulties due to COVID-19 have already been observed in various nations. In this study, we suggest a new type of specific phobia, which may be categorized under DSM-V 300.29. The current study developed a self-report instrument whose items address the specific phobia diagnosis criteria of the DSM-V and tested its initial psychometric properties. Results show that the scale has initial evidence of construct, convergent, and discriminant validity, and internal consistency reliability. The scale should be further tested; however, the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S) items provide support for assessing the levels of phobia reactions among a wide range of age groups.