A Prospective Study of Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Childhood Trauma-Exposed Individuals: Social Support Matters

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its unprecedented social restrictions may have serious mental health implications, especially in individuals who have experienced childhood traumatic experiences (CTEs). This prospective study aimed to investigate whether general psychopathology and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity increased during the pandemic as compared to prepandemic baseline data collected approximately 1 year earlier. Furthermore, we investigated whether an increase in symptomatology was linked to CTEs and mediated by a lack of perceived social support and fear of COVID-19. An online survey was administered to 85 individuals, including both participants with PTSD, major depression, or somatic symptom disorder (n = 63) and healthy volunteers (n = 22), during a period of the most severe social restrictions in Germany. The survey included the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Brief Symptom Inventory, PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, ENRICHD Social Support Inventory, and Fear of COVID-19 Scale. In the whole sample, we found significant increases in general psychopathology and PTSD symptom severity, omega(2) = .07-.08, during as compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, with CTEs predicting increased PTSD symptom severity, beta = .245, p = .042. This effect was mediated by a lack of perceived social support, indirect effect = .101, 95% CI [.013, .209], but not fear of COVID-19, indirect effect = .060, 95% CI [-.035, .167]. These findings emphasize the importance of interventions that promote social inclusion to mitigate the potentially detrimental effects of public health actions implemented against the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with CTEs.

Automated summary

This study found significant increases in general psychopathology and PTSD symptom severity during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in individuals with childhood traumatic experiences. The severity of PTSD symptoms was predicted by childhood trauma experiences and mediated by a lack of perceived social support.