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Why the COVID-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic does not fit into prevailing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) models, or diagnostic criteria, yet emerging research shows traumatic stress symptoms as a result of this ongoing global stressor. Current pathogenic event models focus on past, and largely direct, trauma exposure to certain kinds of life-threatening events. Yet, traumatic stress reactions to future, indirect trauma exposure, and non-Criterion A events exist, suggesting COVID-19 is also a traumatic stressor which could lead to PTSD symptomology. To examine this idea, we asked a sample of online participants ( N = 1,040), in five western countries, to indicate the COVID-19 events they had been directly exposed to, events they anticipated would happen in the future, and other forms of indirect exposure such as through media coverage. We then asked participants to complete the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-5, adapted to measure pre/peri/post-traumatic reactions in relation to COVID-19. We also measured general emotional reactions (e.g., angry, anxious, helpless), well-being, psychosocial functioning, and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. We found participants had PTSD-like symptoms for events that had not happened and when participants had been directly (e.g., contact with virus) or indirectly exposed to COVID-19 (e.g., via media). Moreover, 13.2% of our sample were likely PTSD-positive, despite types of COVID-19 “exposure” (e.g., lockdown) not fitting DSM-5 criteria. The emotional impact of “worst” experienced/anticipated events best predicted PTSD-like symptoms. Taken together, our findings support emerging research that COVID-19 can be understood as a traumatic stressor event capable of eliciting PTSD-like responses and exacerbating other related mental health problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, psychosocial functioning, etc.). Our findings add to existing literature supporting a pathogenic event memory model of traumatic stress.
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“The COVID-19 pandemic provided new incentives for a reconceptualization of the very notion of the traumatic stressor (as captured, eg, in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition), as its negative impact relates to the future rather than the past and to indirect as much as to direct exposure [62,63].”
From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [63]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Bridgland, V. M. E., Moeck, E. K., Green, D. M., Swain, T. L., Nayda, D. M., Matson, L. A., Hutchison, N. P., & Takarangi, M. K. T.
- Affiliations
- Flinders University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Takarangi, Melanie K. T.
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2021-01-11
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e0240146
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7799777
- OpenAlex
- W3119633778
- Cited by
- 501
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 83 · 2023: 136 · 2022: 144 · 2021: 65
- FWCI
- 70.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Flinders University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic stress, indirect trauma exposure, media exposure, PTSD diagnostic criteria, lockdown, anxiety, depression, psychosocial functioning, well-being
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Anxiety, Depression, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult, Pandemics
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