Suppression May Improve Adaptation to Worry When Facing Uncertainty

Studying Covid-19 Pandemic

Bibliographic Data

ID15516366
AuthorsAli Khatibi (0000-0002-2531-7720, University of Birmingham, corresponding author), Lesley Sharpe (0000-0002-8790-6272, The University of Sydney), Louise Sharpe, Mohsen Dehghani (0000-0002-5260-352X, The University of Melbourne), Erfan Ghalibaf (0000-0002-8057-6725, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies), Parham Hosseinchi (Institute for Cognitive Science Studies), Mahdi Mazidi (0000-0002-0039-8229, The University of Western Australia), Seyran Ranjbar (0000-0002-8183-7851, Shahid Beheshti University), Zoha Deldar (0000-0001-6532-8929, McGill University), Carlos Gevers‐Montoro (0000-0001-5031-8808, Hospital Universitario Santa Cristina), Carlos Gevers-Montoro, Pouyan Alizadeh (0000-0002-7161-8815, Shahid Beheshti University), Shaghayegh Alidoust (0000-0002-8009-1891, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies), Arghavan Babaei (Institute for Cognitive Science Studies), Fattaneh Telkabadi (Institute for Cognitive Science Studies), Tahereh Ghadiri (0000-0002-3568-8699, Khatam University)
Year2021
Volume12
Pages778375-778375
Publication date2021-11-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640
PublisherFrontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpsyt.2021.778375
PMID34899432
OpenAlexW3215971234
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited36

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with increased uncertainty, fear and worry in everyone's life. The effect of changes in daily life has been studied widely, but we do not know how emotion-regulation strategies influence adaptation to a new situation to help them overcome worry in the face of uncertainty. Here, 1,064 self-selected Farsi speaking participants completed an online battery of questionnaires that measured fear of virus and illness, worry, intolerance of uncertainty, and emotion regulation (two subscales: reappraisal, suppression). We also documented the number of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths due to COVID-19 on the day in which participants completed the questionnaire. Our findings suggest a correlation between contamination fear and the number of daily-confirmed cases (r = 0.11), and the number of reported deaths due to COVID-19 (r = 0.09). Worry mediated the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and fear of virus and illness (b = 0.16, 0.1141 p < 0.01). Our results suggest that suppression (at least in the short term) can be an adaptive response to the worry associated with uncertainty. Suppression can reduce worry, which in turn can decrease fear of contamination and improve adaptation to social distancing requirements. Although, the observed correlations were significant, but considering the sample size, they are not strong, and they should be interpreted cautiously

Adaptation (eye · Anxiety · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Distancing · Pandemic · Psychiatry · Social distance · Worry · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes · Clinical Psychology · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Medicine · Mental Health Research Topics · Psychology · Internal Medicine