Is self-compassion associated with lower psychological distress in people with long COVID? Results from a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Long COVID affects approximately 10–20% of COVID-19 patients and has a devastating impact on their quality of life and mental health. This study aimed to evaluate symptoms of psychological distress in people with long COVID and explore whether high levels of self-compassion are associated with low levels of psychological distress. An online cross-sectional survey of people with Long COVID was conducted. In total, 332 respondents participated in the survey. All dimensions of self-compassion were found to be significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and perceived stress, independent of symptom severity. Specifically, self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness were strongly negatively associated with distress, whereas self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification were strongly and positively associated with distress. Self-compassion seems to play a role in explaining levels of psychological distress in people with long COVID symptoms. The centrality of self-compassion may lead to the development of effective interventions to help patients with long COVID reduce self-judgmental and self-critical tendencies and improve their psychological well-being.

Keywords:

• Self-compassion
• post-COVID-19 syndrome
• long COVID
• depression
• anxiety, perceived stress

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Daryl O’Connor, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

SUBJECTS:

• Health Psychology
• Psychiatry & Clinical Psychology – Adult
• Health & Illness

Authors contributions

A.L., L.B and C.B conceived of and designed the study. C.B designed the statistical analysis plan. A.L., L.B. and C.B. analysed the data and developed the figures and tables. A.L., C.B, L.B., M.C., N.B. reviewed the findings and contributed to the interpretation. L.B drafted the first version of the manuscript; C.B and A.L. revised the first version of the manuscript, T.V.B. revised subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors contributed intellectual content during the drafting and revision of the work and approved the final version of the article.

Ethical approval

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by an Institutional Review Board/Ethics committee. See details under Methods.

Consent to participate

Participants were aware of the purpose of the study and gave informed consent before participating. They completed the survey anonymously, voluntarily and without any remuneration.

Disclosure statement

The authors do not have any competing interests to disclose.

Data availability statement

Data will be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Luca Bodini

Dr. Luca Bodini, PsyD, Affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. Research interest: chronic illness; mindfulness; clinical psychology; epidemiology; psychiatry; psychotherapy.

Chiara Bonetto

Dr. Chiara Bonetto, PhD, Affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. Research interest: clinical psychology; epidemiology; psychiatry.

Morena Colombi

Morena Colombi, Affiliation: Administrator of the Facebook community “Noi che il Covid lo abbiamo sconfitto”, Milan, Italy. Research interest: long covid.

Nila Barbieri

Dr. Nila Barbieri, MD, Affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. Research interest: epidemiology; psychiatry.

Tine Van Bortel

Prof. Tine Van Bortel, PhD, Affiliation: Leicester School of Allied Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK Affiliation: Cambridge Public Health Interdisciplinary Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Research interest: mental health; health policy; community-based interventions; asset-based and systems approaches to improve (mental) health; overall wellbeing across the life course.

Antonio Lasalvia

Prof. Antonio Lasalvia, PhD, MD, Affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. UOC Psichiatria, Affiliation: Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata (AOUI) di Verona, Verona, Italy. Research interest: social psychiatry; epidemiological psychiatry; stigma; health service research; first episode psychosis.