Institute of Neuroscience and Public Policy, INECO Foundation, Argentina; and Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neurosciences, National Council of Science and Technology, INECO Foundation and Favaloro University, Argentina
Adrian Yoris
Institute of Neuroscience and Public Policy, INECO Foundation, Argentina; and Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neurosciences, National Council of Science and Technology, INECO Foundation and Favaloro University, Argentina
Daniel Low
Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School and MIT, USA
Pablo Lopez
Institute of Neuroscience and Public Policy, INECO Foundation, Argentina; and Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neurosciences, National Council of Science and Technology, INECO Foundation and Favaloro University, Argentina
Pedro Bekinschtein
Institute of Neuroscience and Public Policy, INECO Foundation, Argentina; and Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neurosciences, National Council of Science and Technology, INECO Foundation and Favaloro University, Argentina
Gustavo H. Vázquez
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University Medical School, Canada
Facundo Manes
Institute of Neuroscience and Public Policy, INECO Foundation, Argentina; and Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neurosciences, National Council of Science and Technology, INECO Foundation and Favaloro University, Argentina
Marcelo Cetkovich
Institute of Neuroscience and Public Policy, INECO Foundation, Argentina; and Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neurosciences, National Council of Science and Technology, INECO Foundation and Favaloro University, Argentina
Background An early and prolonged lockdown was adopted in Argentina during the first wave of COVID-19. Early reports evidenced elevated psychological symptoms. Aims To explore if the prolonged lockdown was associated with elevated anxiety and depressive symptoms; if mental fatigue was associated with lockdown adherence (a phenomenon called ‘behavioural fatigue’); and if financial concerns were associated with lockdown adherence and emotional symptoms. Method The survey included standardised questionnaires to assess depressive (PHQ-9) and anxious (GAD-7) symptoms, mental fatigue, risk perception, lockdown adherence, financial concerns, daily stress, loneliness, intolerance to uncertainty, negative repetitive thinking and cognitive problems. LASSO regression analyses were carried out to predict depression, anxiety and lockdown adherence Results The survey reached 3617 adults (85.2% female) from all provinces of Argentina after 72 days of lockdown. Data were collected between 21 May 2020 and 4 June 2020. In that period, Argentina had an Oxford stringency index of 85/100. Of those surveyed, 45.6% and 27% met the cut-offs for depression and anxiety, respectively. Mental fatigue, cognitive failures and financial concerns were correlated with psychological symptoms, but not with adherence to lockdown. In regression models, mental fatigue, cognitive failures and loneliness were the most important variables to predict depression, intolerance to uncertainty and lockdown difficulty were the most important for anxiety, and perceived threat was the most important for predicting lockdown adherence. Conclusions During the extended lockdown, psychological symptoms increased, being enhanced by mental fatigue, cognitive difficulties and financial concerns. We found no evidence of behavioural fatigue. Thus, feeling mentally fatigued is not the same as being behaviourally fatigued.
