Buffering traumatic reactions to COVID-19: Mindfulness moderates the relationship between the severity of the pandemic and posttraumatic stress symptoms

Mindfulness and COVID-19-Related Stress: Staying Present During Uncertain Times

Objectives

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is recognized as a mass traumatic event in which COVID-19-related stress (CS) can indicate other trauma- and/or stressor-related disorder. The facets of mindfulness (observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreacting) have been linked to reductions in stress-related symptoms and thus may protect against CS. We extended previous research by evaluating mindfulness facets as resilience skills negatively related to CS.

Method

Undergraduate students (n = 495) completed an online battery of questionnaires. A subsample of students endorsing clinically elevated CS (n = 165) was also evaluated. We utilized hierarchical regression to account statistically for the mindfulness facets in addition to indicators of psychological distress (e.g., negative affect, neuroticism, dissociation) and social desirability. We performed analyses twice, once in the overall sample, and once in the high CS subsample.

Results

Less observing and greater nonjudging related to reduced CS while other study variables were controlled for in the overall sample. In contrast, acting with awareness and nonjudging negatively related to CS in the subsample, but were not related to CS when we accounted for psychological-distress variables that positively related to CS in the analysis.

Conclusions

Although variables indicative of psychological distress robustly contribute to CS, observing, acting with awareness, and nonjudging may be mindfulness skills that can be targeted to buffer clinically significant CS.

Preregistration

This study was not pre-registered.

The effect of mindfulness intervention on internet negative news perception and processing: An implicit and explicit approach

The internet facilitates the formation of the information society while also accelerating the viral spread of negative news and negative emotions, increasing public uncertainty and depression and impeding consensus, especially in the post-pandemic period. Mindfulness intervention, which has a positive effect on attention focus, self-regulation, and subjective wellbeing, is proven to mitigate negative emotional effects, and even alter mind patterns. The study aimed to give insight into the effect of mindfulness in the new media field, concerning trait mindfulness improvement, emotional arousal and regulation, and implicit attitudes from the perspective of intra-personal communication and positive communication. The study conducted a randomized pre-test-post-test control group design, with 3 (condition groups: mindfulness vs. placebo vs. control) × 2 (test times: pre vs. post). Participants who were exposed to negative news coverage with negative emotional arousal received 14 consecutive days of intervention. The results showed that mindfulness training can improve trait mindfulness effectively on the whole, especially in facets of describing, acting awareness, and non-judgment, and mitigate the negative effect from bad information coverage, while mindfulness intervention on mind patterns and expectations on controversial issues still awaited future empirical research. The present study intended to bridge the bonding between positive psychology and new media studies by focusing on individual attention improvement and negative emotion regulation, in the expectation that trait mindfulness can be beneficial in individual infodemic syndromes such as judgment bias and information exhaustion, and avoidance.

The Global Pandemic as a Life-Changer? Medical, Psychological, or Self Help during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Representative Study

The survey was conducted on a representative adult sample of Poles one year after the announcement of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The survey aimed to determine how the public in different social groups and age categories assessed the impact of the pandemic on their personal and professional lives, and where and to what extent respondents sought psychological and medical help to cope with the effects caused by the pandemic. The survey was conducted using the CAWI technique based on a questionnaire designed by an interdisciplinary team of experts. The study indicated that 61.9% of respondents declared that the COVID-19 pandemic did not bring any good, and had rather adverse effects on their lives, and 57.7% of respondents declared that the pandemic had not affected their professional lives. Nearly half of the respondents (45.0%) declared that although the pandemic forced them to change their personal lives, it did not work out for them. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, every eighth respondent (12.3%) contacted a mental health specialist-a psychologist, or psychiatrist. Young people most often use psychological and medical help. Due to its representative nature, the survey can be used for in-depth qualitative analyses of the impact of the pandemic on people's mental health.

Dispositional Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Buffer the Effects of COVID-19 Stress on Depression and Anxiety Symptoms

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with a dramatic rise in symptoms of depression and anxiety. Dispositional mindfulness (DM) and self-compassion (SC) have consistently been associated with psychological disorder symptoms and appear to buffer the effects of stress on depression and anxiety.

Methods

Across two studies (n = 888), we examined direct and indirect (moderation) relationships of DM, SC, COVID-19-related stress, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. We also examined the differential effects of several DM measures (FFMQ-15; FFMQ-39; MAAS) in the relationships of COVID-19 stress and psychological disorder symptoms. We recruited participants (Study 1 n = 350; 42.2% cis women; Study 2 n = 538; 44.3% cis women) online (MTurk) and examined associations of DM, SC, and COVID-19 stress, and emotional impact, and the moderating effect of DM and SC in the relationships of COVID-19-related fears, stress, emotional impacts, and psychological disorder symptoms.

Results

DM and SC were moderately and negatively correlated with COVID-19 fears and stress (correlations ranging r =  − .14 to r =  − .42) across studies. Study 1 moderation analyses demonstrated SC, but not DM (FFMQ-15), significantly moderated relationships of COVID-19 fears and emotional impacts with symptoms. Study 2 analyses demonstrated the FFMQ-39, but not the MAAS, significantly moderated relationships of COVID-19 stress and psychological disorder symptoms.

Conclusions

These results support the potential protective roles of DM and SC in disrupting pathological trajectories related to naturally elevated pandemic stress. Results also demonstrate the differential associations of several DM measures with COVID-19 stress. Future research should replicate such findings with more diverse samples and using various measures of self-compassion and risk metrics.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-022-02008-0.