A Clinical Psychological View about Delusional Characterizations in Subjects with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder during the COVID-19 Period

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 12; no. 7; p. 2698
• Main Authors: Maglia, Marilena, Signorelli, Maria Salvina, Petralia, Antonino, Verduzzo, Idria, Carmen, Concerto, Rodolico, Alessandro, Di Piazza, Jennifer, Caponnetto, Pasquale
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 04.04.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Clinical medicine; Complications and side effects; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Delirium; Delusional disorder; Delusions; Epidemics; Italy; Mental disorders; Pandemics; Psychological aspects; Psychosis; Psychotherapy; Risk factors; Schizophrenia; Systematic Review; Italy; schizophrenia delirium and COVID-19; characterizations of delusions during COVID-19; schizophrenia and COVID-19; schizophrenia delusions during COVID-19; psychosis and COVID-19
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm12072698

(Background) The period experienced during the COVID-19 virus and the respective social regulations associated with it caused enormous psychosocial stress. (Objective) The objective of the present work was to observe whether the lived period induced a change in delusional characterizations in subjects with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. (Methods) A systematic literature review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines for systematic reviews of the PRISMA GROUP. The literature search was conducted from November 2021 to May 2022, using various scientific platforms including PubMed. (Results) A total of 865 articles were found, from which 176 duplicates were removed. The remaining articles were reviewed by reading the titles and abstracts; fourteen were included. (Conclusions) During this research, it was possible to confirm the initial thesis, namely that delirium absorbs external reality by being modified by it. It was observed that the speed of absorption is estimated to be directly proportional to the speed of the modification of social reality and to the impact that the latter has on the subject’s private sphere. Moreover, the situation of radical change represented a condition of abnormal psychosocial stress, which led to an increase in diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum disorders and, specifically, a weighty increase in diagnoses of brief psychotic disorder (BDP). In the coming years, it is estimated that there will be an increase in diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum disorder caused by both environmental and biological factors.