Conspiratorial Beliefs About COVID-19 Pandemic - Can They Pose a Mental Health Risk? The Relationship Between Conspiracy Thinking and the Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression Among Adult Poles.

The aim of the study was to describe the relationship between the tendency to believe in false information about the COVID-19 pandemic, tendency to believe in conspiracy theories and the severity of anxiety and depression symptoms among the surveyed Poles. The study was conducted via the Internet in a group of 700 people aged 24.8 ± 6.3 years (mean ± SD). 585 females and 110 males were involved. Scales such as Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (GCBS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the original questionnaire COVID-19 Conspiratorial Beliefs Scale (COVID-19 CBS) designed to measure the tendency to believe in false information about COVID-19 pandemic were used. A positive correlation was observed between the tendency to believe in false information about the COVID-19 pandemic (COVID-19 CBS) and the tendency to believe in general conspiracy theories (GCBS) (r = 0.768; p < 0.001). Moreover, both COVID-19 CBS and GCBS positively correlated with the severity of anxiety and depression symptoms in the study group. For COVID-19 CBS, the correlation coefficients were 0.087 (p < 0.021) and.108 (p < 0.004) for depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively, while for GCBS the coefficients were 0.132 (p < 0.001) and 0.147 (p < 0.001). Regression analysis showed that the increased tendency to believe in false beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic may be associated with an increase in the severity of anxiety (b = 0.04; p = 0.021) and depression (b = 0.06; p < 0.001) symptoms. It can be hypothesized that the tendency to believe in false information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic is positively associated with the tendency to general belief in conspiracy theories. False beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic may, at least to some extent, influence the development of anxiety and depression symptoms.

Sense of happiness and other aspects of quality of life in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) is the intellectual and emotional wellbeing of an individual, which is determined by many factors. The most measurable are the sense of happiness, occupational satisfaction, quality of interpersonal relationships and sex life. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic mental disorder diagnosed by the presence of obsessions and compulsions that disrupt normal psychosocial functioning. Despite early onset, treatment is delayed (OCD-DTI) and unsatisfactory. Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to assess selected correlates of the sense of happiness among patients with OCD. The secondary objective is to compare the sense of happiness with healthy people. Methods: Seventyfive OCD patients and equal number of healthy subjects were compared using a Polish adaptation of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ-23). Results: We found a significant negative correlation between sense of happiness and the severity of OCD (r = -0.479), the number of obsessive-compulsive personality traits (r = -0.323), the number of other comorbid mental disorders (r = -0.272), the level of aggression (r = -0.448), impulsivity (r = -0.301), depressiveness (r = -0.357), and the sexual dysfunctions (r = -0.279). The latter were much more common in individuals with OCD compared to healthy subjects (66.67 vs. 12%). The level of loneliness was over two times higher in the study group compared to controls (27 vs. 12%). The mean delay in treatment onset was 13 years. Conclusions. Assessment of aspects of QoL should be an integral part of the diagnostic and therapeutic process in OCD.