Coping with psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic

Sustained physical and psychological stress, as often associated with the intensive care for COVID-19 patients, increases the risk of burn-out syndromes. Since it is now clear to all of us that COVID-19 is not a short sprint but a marathon, we at CMH have developed a burnout prevention and crisis intervention concept together with the psycho-oncological-neuropsychological service and the counseling office for employees at UKW. This provides, among others, for a professional contact person to be available around the clock to offer support either immediately by telephone or in a personal meeting.

Contact person
Prof. Dr. med. Stefan Unterecker
Dr. med. Bodo Warrings

For whom the offer applies as well as detailed information on the offer, hotline and contact addresses, please see the PPP's focus page as well as our constantly updated flyer.

At the Chair of Psychology I, specific hypotheses about the development of anxiety disorders as a result of the stress associated with the Corona pandemic are being tested. The hypotheses are based on characteristics that have already been identified as relevant in the context of the SFB-TRR 58.

For this purpose, a cross-sectional survey of more than 4000 Würzburg, Berlin, and Freiburg students was conducted during the peak of the April 2020 lockdown, and their data are analyzed for predictors of reported anxiety and safety behaviors.

Preliminary results suggest that anxiety behavior is best predicted by traits that assess affect and fear; safety behavior is most likely to be predicted by cognitive factors such as information evaluation or media use.

Mega Cohort of the SFB TR 58
As a next step, the Z02 subject cohort of SFB-TRR 58 will be re-examined for changes in anxiety levels, psychopathology, and well-being starting in September 2020. Because this cohort was carefully characterized prior to the Corona outbreak, we have a unique opportunity to decipher important psychological and neurobiological risk and resilience factors that predict changes induced by Corona associated stress.

A recently received VW-foundation award (Pauli/Gamer/Hein: The long-term effects of Corona on mental health: Trajectories of adaptive and maladaptive coping) will allow following up both samples during 2021.

Contact person
Prof. Dr. phil. Paul Pauli 

As part of the University Medicine Network (NUM), staff members of the Center of Mental Health collaborated on network consortia such as EgePan, UTN, CollPan, NapKon, and NapKonTip. The research findings were published in numerous articles.

Within the EgePan network, measures necessary to maintain employees’ ability to work were defined as part of the “Resource Management” work package coordinated by Mainz University Medical Center.

The UTN network is developing digital approaches to better prepare for future pandemics and other medical challenges.

The CollPan network aims to investigate the effects of the pandemic on particularly vulnerable groups, such as people with mental health conditions, in order to better serve these groups in the future.

The National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON) creates standardized structures for the collection and use of clinical data, imaging data, and biosamples, thereby enabling cross-site research on pandemics.

The multi-adaptive trial platform NapKon-Tip serves as a platform for post-COVID intervention studies, such as the multicenter RAPID study.
 

In addition to the German Corona Consensus Data Set (GECCO), the central German data archive on Covid-19, and in collaboration with the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN), the German Society for Psychosomatic Medicine (DGPM) and the German Society for Psychosomatic Medicine (DGPM) an additional module for mental illnesses (GECCOplus) was developed.

Contact person
Prof. Dr. med. Jürgen Deckert
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Grit Hein