[Anxiety, depression and coping evolution during the Covid-19 pandemic in older people with psychiatric diseases].

INTRODUCTION

Lockdown over the Covid-19 pandemic might have had a major impact on people's mental health. The present longitudinal study was aimed to explore the impact of the two first lockdowns on anxious and depressive symptoms of older subjects suffering from psychiatric disorders and to highlight their strategies to cope with the stress induced by these lockdowns.

METHODS

Twenty-one outpatients from psychogeriatric units benefited from a follow-up visit phone. They filled out questionnaires assessing their anxious (GAD-7) and depressive (Mini-GDS) symptomatology and a questionnaire about their coping strategies (Brief COPE).

RESULTS

The depressive symptomatology significantly decreased between the 1st lockdown and the second assessment 9 months later with a GDS score significantly decreasing from 1.7 ± 1.2 to 0.9 ± 1.0. Conversely, anxiety remained stable with a mean GAD-7 score from 6.2 ± 5.1 to 6.3 ± 4.4. Furthermore, coping strategies were correlated with both depressive symptomatology and anxiety. At the same time, coping strategies focused on emotional support, acceptance, selfdistraction, and expression of feeling during the first lockdown had shifted 9 months later towards positive reframing and problem-solving strategies (active coping and planification) with a significant increase of active coping.

CONCLUSION

The study showed that during the Covid-19 pandemic and its lockdown, older subjects with psychiatric disorders were able to engage coping strategies and to mitigate their depressive symptomatology and these coping strategies were flexible according to the context.