A longitudinal approach of lockdown effects on quality of life and the expression of anxiety-depressive disorders according to sensory processing sensitivity

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 health crisis is perceived as an anxiety-provoking situation. In some cases, policy measures such as containment can generate psychological distress. High sensory processing sensitivity is an innate component of temperament that characterises individuals with higher sensory sensitivity than their peers. It can be understood either as an individual’s ability to adapt to specific situations, or as a factor of vulnerability to certain negative stimuli, which may impact upon quality of life, or manifest itself in the expression of anxiety-depressive symptoms. In this study, we investigated the effects of confinement from a longitudinal perspective on these aspects, according to the degree of sensitivity of individuals.

Data collection was carried out longitudinally during the lockdown of the French population. The sample was composed of 493 adults who were asked to respond twice, anonymously, to a research protocol hosted online. We used a tool composed of the French version of the Highly Sensitive Person Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the French short version of the World Health Organisation Quality Of Life scale.

The results did not show a significant change in anxiety and depression disorders and quality of life in general between the beginning and the end of lockdown. Furthermore, notable disparities were observed according to the degrees of sensitivity in relation to the type of lifestyle during lockdown.

The data from the literature, based on cross-cutting approaches, was clarified by the results, as they did not show any negative effects of lockdown on anxiety-depressive disorders during the lockdown period. Moreover, the latter even seemed to have improved one aspect of quality of life.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 lockdown
• longitudinal approach
• quality of life
• anxiety-depressive disorders
• sensory-processing sensitivity

Authors Note

We have no conflicts of interest.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jimmy Bordarie, University of Tours. Email: [email protected]

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).