BACKGROUND:The assessment of mental health problems has traditionally been done with male or gender-neutral questionnaires. This study analyzes the effects of the gender of the AQ-9 questionnaire, as well as of the respondent, on stigma towards mental health problems. METHOD:A sample of 2,746 adults from the general Spanish population stratified by gender responded to three different versions of the AQ-9 questionnaire: vignette formulated in the female, male and neutral gender. Analyses of invariance and of differences of means for independent samples (ANOVAS) were carried out for both respondent gender and vignette gender. RESULTS:The results show that women tend to be more compassionate and perceive more danger or fear, while men fulfil traditional gender roles by feeling more anger or guilt. Depending on the gender of the vignette, there was a tendency to feel more pity and help towards women, as well as fear, danger, avoidance and coercion towards men. The neutral vignette generated more segregation attributions. CONCLUSIONS:This study underlines the need to take gender into account when designing assessment instruments. Implications and recommendations from an intersectional perspective are discussed.

The clinical presentation and course of illness of older-age bipolar disorder (OABD) are highly variable. In addition, the presentation and course of bipolar disorder (BD) differ between females and males. This study aims to carry out a network analysis of older people with symptoms compatible with BD. Using a sample from the MentDis_ICF65+ study, a symptom network analysis was conducted according to gender and age in 555 people over 65 in the Community of Madrid (Spain). The network was estimated using the InsingFit package that implements a procedure called eLasso. These results reveal differences in the strength, closeness, and betweenness of the networks according to gender and for the age groups 65-74 and 75-84. Females present a network that is much more sparse, with a lower density, and consisting of two sub-networks: one composed of TALK (more talkative than usual) and RACIN (a flight of ideas, racing thoughts) and the other of PAINF (activities with painful consequences), SLEEP (the decreased need for sleep), GRAND (inflated self-esteem), and AGIT (psychomotor agitation). In the case of men, a denser network is obtained, with greater connections between all the symptoms, being the edge with greater weight than the one integrated by RACIN and GRAND. In relation to age, it is possible to observe changes in the model between the two age groups. These network differences support viewing OABD dimensionally and emphasize considering gender and age to improve understanding and personalize treatments for older adults with bipolar disorder symptoms.

In The Lancet Psychiatry, Victor Serrano-Gimeno and colleagues1 report trends in non-fatal suicide behaviours in the population of Catalonia, Spain, before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The study shows a significant increase in the prevalence of non-fatal suicide behaviours during the easing of confinement restrictions and post-confinement period compared with the pre-confinement period. The authors cite the level of social distancing and support and economic challenges as possible explanations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on the mental health of the population, which also has been affected by various barriers to access to psychological care. The aim of the current study is to compare the mental health status of the Spanish population between the onset of confinement (N = 3480) to 12 months later (N = 550), and to describe the use of psychological care services and the main barriers to access. Study participants completed an online survey. Forty percent of the sample reported experiencing a mental health problem since the pandemic's onset, of which 23.4% reported having received some kind of care. The majority reported not seeking care because they could handle the problems on their own, their problems got better on their own, or they could not afford treatment. The psychological effects of the pandemic have been increasing since its onset, so attention to mental health problems should be a priority.

The aim was to systematically review studies on the psychological impact of confinement by Covid-19 on the general Spanish population and health professionals in the first year of the pandemic. The review includes the 18 studies published between January and December 2020. Findings indicate that the psychological impact increases as confinement progresses, with percentages of affectation ranging from 3-30% in anxiety symptoms (37-72% in healthcare professionals), 6-57% in depressive symptoms (27-61 % in healthcare professionals), 2-40% in symptoms of stress (14-47% in healthcare professionals), 15-20% in symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress (15.8% in healthcare professionals), 12-53% in sleep problems (29% in healthcare professionals), and 9-37% in feelings of loneliness. The groups at risk identified are women, young people, the unemployed and people with previous mental health problems. The Covid-19 has had important repercussions on the mental health of the general Spanish population and health professionals, and it is necessary to establish assessment and intervention protocols that allow the detection and intervention on the affected population after confinement and during future confinements.

This research aims to analyze age-related differences in the psychological impact of the Covid-19 confinement situation in a Spanish sample. A longitudinal study (N= 1,041) was conducted through an online survey with two measurements: at two and five weeks after the declaration of the alarm state in Spain. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depressive symptoms, spiritual well-being and perceived loneliness were evaluated by screening tests. Means and their confidence intervals (95%) were calculated for all variables in the study, for the three age groups: 18-30, 31-59, 60-80. Linear mixed models with random slopes (Time nested to Subjects) were calculated for each variable. The results indicate that the psychological impact caused by the pandemic persists over time, and even increases in some of the variables studied. The older age group (60-80 years) shows the least impact and the greatest well-being. They presented less depressive, anxious and PTSD symptoms and less loneliness. These results may be explained by the greater resilience of this group to recover from adverse situations, in addition to having a greater number of coping strategies.

The aim of this study is to conduct a network analysis of agoraphobia disorder symptoms (with or without panic) according to age and gender, in a representative sample of 555 people over 65 years of age in the Community of Madrid. The network was estimated using the InsingFit package that implements a procedure called eLasso. The results reveal differentiated networks for men and women, and for the age groups 65-74 and 75-84 years, finding a higher percentage of occurrence in women in both situations and symptoms of anxiety and reasons for fear. Women fear a greater number of situations, while men seem to have their fears more localized and centralized in situations related to transport and travel when travelling alone. These results may be of interest for designing interventions that address the symptoms and the most important, different and characteristic them to and

The aim was to systematically review studies on the psychological impact of confinement by Covid-19 on the general Spanish population and health professionals in the first year of the pandemic. The review includes the 18 studies published between January and December 2020. Findings indicate that the psychological impact increases as confinement progresses, with percentages of affectation ranging from 3-30% in anxiety symptoms (37-72% in healthcare professionals), 6-57% in depressive symptoms (27-61% in healthcare professionals), 2-40% in symptoms of stress (14-47% in healthcare professionals), 15-20% in symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress (15.8% in healthcare professionals), 12-53% in sleep problems (29% in healthcare professionals), and 9-37% in feelings of loneliness. The groups at risk identified are women, young people, the unemployed and people with previous mental health problems. The Covid-19 has had important repercussions on the mental health of the general Spanish population and health professionals, and it is necessary to establish assessment and intervention protocols that allow the detection and intervention on the affected population after confinement and during future confinements.

Background: Stigma and discrimination have been associated with different diseases and pandemics, with negative consequences for the people who suffered them and for their communities. Currently, COVID-19 has become a new source of stigmatization. Aims: The aim of the present study is to analyze longitudinally the evolution of intersectional perceived discrimination and internalized stigma among the general population of Spain, at three points in time throughout the confinement. Method: Participants completed an online survey. Results: Results show an increase in both variables from the first to the second evaluation, and a slight decrease from the second to the third evaluation. Moreover, these changes are explained by depression, anxiety and family support. Conclusions: These findings indicate the factors that need to be considered to reduce the perception of discrimination and the internalization of stigma, and their detrimental consequences, during an especially stressful event such as the current pandemic outbreak.

Introduction:Women have been shown to be a vulnerable group in relation to mental health problems over time. Despite this, gender-focused studies are uncommon. The aim of this research is to study mental health in a sample of people with mental health problems and to analyze the differences and predictors focusing on gender.Methods:A cross-sectional study is conducted in a heterogeneous clinical sample in terms of mental health problems (N = 160). Interviews with hetero-reported standardized questionnaires to collect the data are conducted. Descriptive analyses, mean difference and a regression analysis on mental health are carried out taking into account different sociodemographic, clinical and psychosocial variables.Results:Women in the study present worse levels of mental health and subjective severity of the disorder. The main predictors of mental health are being female, followed by severity, shorter time with the diagnosis and internalized stigma.Conclusion:Being female is the most robust predictor of worse mental health and symptomatology. Recommendations according to the results found proposing a gender perspective are suggested.

Loneliness and social isolation in the elderly population can be shown to be a significant independent risk factor for several conditions, such as poor health behaviours, physical health problems and psychiatric conditions. Although, in the last 20 years, several interventions have been developed to reduce the impact of social isolation and loneliness on the health of older people. However, only a small proportion of these interventions are effective. This study aims to describe the components of the Psychological Support Service for Socially Isolated Elderly People (PSIE), in addition to analysing the effectiveness of a community intervention based on an outreach strategy to combat situations of social isolation in the elderly population. The sample consisted of 63 people over 65 years of age from the city of Madrid (Spain), detected by the socio-health services as people at risk of social isolation. Sociodemographic, mental health, health and psychosocial functioning, global functioning, disability and socio-sanitary needs were evaluated with observational scales. Descriptive statistics were calculated for sociodemographic and mental health variables. An analysis was carried out to study the possible influence of gender in the initial sample on the different variables assessed, using Chi-squared and Student’s t-tests for independent samples, with measures of effect size in each case. A study of the effectiveness of PSIE was carried out with an analysis of pre- and post-treatment measures. A Student’s t-test was used for related samples, as well as the effect size of Cohen’s d statistic. For the assessment of the possible influence of gender on the results of the intervention, a 2 × 2 repeated-measures ANOVA (pre-/post-measures × gender) was conducted. Regarding mental health, 65.2% of the sample presented symptoms compatible with a severe mental disorder, the most frequent being psychotic disorder (22.7%), alcohol use disorder (16.7%), personality disorder (15.2%), anxiety disorders (10.4%) and mood disorders (10.4%). The gender variable does not seem to have an influence on any of the outcome measures studied. The results of the effectiveness study indicate that the PSIE is an intervention programme that serves to improve the scores of people in the sample in all variables that the programme studied. Some of the components of PSIE that could explain its effectiveness are individualized interventions, with a home-based approach by professionals, serving as a link between the older person and the normalized social-sanitary network. Further research is required to provide more robust data on the effectiveness of interventions.

A symptom network analysis of specific phobia disorder (SPD) was conducted according to gender and age in 555 people over 65 in the Region of Madrid (Spain). The network was estimated using the InsingFit package that implements a procedure called eLasso. These results reveal differences in the strength, closeness, and betweenness of the different networks according to gender but not for the 65-74 and 75-84 age groups. The gender variable presents a greater presence of symptoms in women than in men. For all types of specific phobia, the symptom of greater occurrence for both groups was fear. The main difference between men and women over 65 with SPD lies in the situational type, where centrality is more distributed and where the most central symptoms are distress for women and fear for men. These differences in the networks seem to support the conceptualization of SPD from a dimensional point of view.

OBJECTIVE:While incidence rates of depression and anxiety disorders in the elderly have been comprehensively investigated, the incidence rates of other mental disorders have rarely been researched. The incidence rate and predictors of various mental disorders in the elderly were evaluated in different European and associated countries.METHODS:A cross-sectional and longitudinal multi-centre survey of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) diagnoses was conducted in different European and associated countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Israel) to collect data on the prevalence and incidence of mental disorders in the elderly. The sample size of the longitudinal wave was N = 2592 elderly.RESULTS:The overall 1-year incidence rate for any mental disorder in the elderly is 8.65%. At 5.18%, any anxiety disorder had the highest incidence rate across all diagnostic groups. The incidence rate for any affective disorder was 2.97%. The lowest incidence rates were found for agoraphobia (1.37%) and panic disorder (1.30%). Risk factors for the development of any mental disorder were never having been married, no religious affiliation, a higher number of physical illnesses and a lower quality of life.CONCLUSION:In comparison to other studies, lower incidence rates for any affective disorder and middle-range incidence for any anxiety disorder were found. To the authors' knowledge, no prior studies have reported 1-year incidence rates for somatoform disorder, bipolar disorder and substance misuse in community-dwelling elderly. These findings indicate the need to raise awareness of psychosocial problems in the elderly and to ensure adequate availability of mental health services.

Background: This study aims to longitudinally assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the general Spanish population. It uses four assessment points: two weeks after the start of confi nement, one month after, two months after, and one year after the first evaluation. Methods: Evaluations were conducted through an online survey, with a sample of 3,480 people at the first data collection and 1,041, 569, and 550 people at successive evaluation points. Depressive symptoms (PHQ-2), anxiety (GAD-2), post-traumatic stress (PCL-C-2), social support (EMAS), loneliness (UCLA-3), and discrimination (InDI-d) were evaluated. Results: Significant changes were found in the variables depression and anxiety with a greater presence of this kind of symptomatology after one year (p < .01). There were also signifi cant changes in the variable social support, which showed a substantial reduction after one year (p < .001). Similarly, there were significant variations in the variable intersectional discrimination (p < .001), with greater levels of discrimination. The temporal models show no significant differences in terms of post-traumatic symptomatology (p = .12) or loneliness (p = .19). Conclusions: The pandemic had a negative impact on mental health and these effects were further exacerbated one year later.

Psychopathology networks consist of aspects (e.g., symptoms) of mental disorders (nodes) and the connections between those aspects (edges). This article aims to analyze the research literature on network analysis in psychopathology and mental health for the last ten years. Statistical descriptive analysis was complemented with two bibliometric techniques: performance analysis and co-word analysis. There is an increase in publications that has passed from 1 article published in 2010 to 172 papers published in 2020. The 398 articles in the sample have 1,910 authors in total, being most of them occasional contributors. The Journal of Affective Disorders is the one with the highest number of publications on network analysis in psychopathology and mental health, followed by the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Psychological Medicine stand out. The present study shows that this perspective in psychopathology and mental health is a recent field of study, but with solid advances in recent years from a wide variety of researchers, mainly from USA and Europe, who have extensively studied symptom networks in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders. However, gaps are identified in other psychological behaviors such as suicide, populations such as the elderly, and gender studies.

La pandemia de Covid-19 ha tenido un grave impacto en la salud mental de la población, que además ha visto mermado su acceso a atención psicológica por diversas barreras. El objetivo del presente estudio es comparar el estado de salud mental de la población española al inicio del confinamiento (N = 3480) y 12 meses después (N = 550), y describir el uso de servicios de atención psicológica y sus principales barreras de acceso. Los participantes completaron una encuesta online. El 40% de la muestra reveló haber tenido problemas de salud mental desde el inicio de la pandemia, de los cuales el 23.4% señalaron haber recibido algún tipo de atención. La mayor parte refirieron no haber buscado atención porque pudieron manejar los problemas por sí mismos, sus problemas mejoraron solos, o no pudieron costearse tratamiento. La atención de los problemas de salud mental debe ser una prioridad para abordar el impacto psicológico del Covid-19.

El objetivo es realizar un análisis de redes de síntomas del trastorno de agorafobia (con o sin pánico) según la edad y el sexo, en una muestra representativa de 555 personas mayores de 65 años de la Comunidad de Madrid. La red se estimó utilizando el paquete InsingFit que implementa un procedimiento llamado eLasso. Los resultados revelan redes diferenciadas para hombres y mujeres, y para los grupos de edad de 65-74 y 75-84 años, encontrando un mayor porcentaje de ocurrencia en las mujeres tanto en las situaciones como en los síntomas de ansiedad y en las razones para sentir miedo. Las mujeres temen un mayor número de situaciones, mientras que los hombres parecen tener sus miedos más localizados y centralizados en situaciones relacionadas con el transporte y los viajes cuando los hacen solos. Estos resultados pueden ser interesantes para diseñar intervenciones que aborden los síntomas y sus relaciones mutuas más importantes, diferentes y características en función de la edad y el sexo.

Aims: The objective is to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the effects of the pandemic and alarm situation on the mental health of the general population at three points in time: two weeks after beginning the confinement, after a month, and after two months, when the lockdown was lifted and the country returned to the new normality. Methods: The evaluations were carried out by means of an online survey, with a sample of 3480 persons in the first data collection and 1041 and 569 persons in the successive evaluation periods. The presence of depressive symptoms, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was evaluated by means of screening tests. Sociodemographic data, Covid-19 variables, loneliness, psychological well-being, social support, discrimination and a sense of belonging, were collected. Results: Depressive symptoms increased significantly throughout the confinement, decreasing at the last assessment but not dropping to previous levels. In anxiety, there are no significant changes between the three evaluations, but a downward trend can be seen over time. Regarding the symptomatology of PTSD, a downward trend is observed throughout the three evaluations, with significantly lower scores between the first and third assessments. The different regression models developed reveal the importance of perceived loneliness and spiritual well-being as the main predictors of mental health, as well as the importance of the lower age for depression and the female gender for anxiety and PSTD. Conclusions: This research shows that the pandemic has had a negative impact on our mental health, which still does not seem to be at pre-crisis levels, although it has improved as the emergency situation subsides. These results underline the importance of paying greater attention to mental health, and reveal key variables such as spiritual well-being and perceived loneliness in which to intervene from different care services, as well as younger people and women as vulnerable groups on which to focus more attention.

The COVID-19 lockdown has had a massive psychological impact on mental health in the general population, with increases in anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Spiritual well-being, specifically peace and meaning, has already been identified as one of the main protective factors for these disorders in the COVID-19 context. The aim of the present study is to identify facilitating elements for peace and meaning during the COVID-19 lockdown in Spain. Online surveys were used to obtain data from a sample of 3480 Spanish people. Self-compassion and social support were positively related with peace and meaning, while loneliness and perceived discrimination were negatively related. The model for peace and meaning was statistically significant, explaining 47% of the variance. The significant variables were self-kindness, family support, mindfulness, and sense of belonging having a positive association and loneliness a negative one.