Amani Safwat ElBarazi1,2,3*
amani.safwat@bue.edu.eg
1 Clinical Practice Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, The British University in Egypt, P.O. Box 43, El-Sherouk City, Cairo 11837, Egypt.
2 The Center for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), Faculty of Pharmacy, The British University in Egypt, P.O. Box 43, El-Sherouk City, Cairo 11837, Egypt.
3 Clinical Psychology Clinic, Safwat Elgolf Hospital, Almaza, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
The new global situation of COVID-19 affects the whole world in all aspects of life including mental health.
The study’s goal is to detect the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Emotion Regulation (ER) difficulties under the COVID-19 condition.
Methods: University students were asked to complete: 1) Emotion Regulation Difficulties Questionnaire (DERS), 2) PTSD Checklist (PCL- 5), 3) Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5).
Results: There were 441 students with suspected COVID-19 symptoms out of 1195 students. When compared to students who did not have suspected COVID-19 symptoms, those who did had a greater prevalence of PTSD symptoms (18.2% vs. 4.7%) and DERS (34.5% vs. 23.3%). Additionally, correlation studies demonstrated a significant positive link (Ps< .01) between the PCL, the overall DERS, and all six categories of emotion regulation difficulties.
Conclusion: Students with suspected COVID-19 symptoms have more difficulty with emotion regulation and post-traumatic stress disorder than students without such symptoms. This research recommends that during the pandemic, health professionals should implement a suitable psychological intervention for students who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms.
Please cite this article as: Elbarazi, A. S. (2022). POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND DIFFICULTIES IN EMOTION REGULATION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNDER THE COVID-19 CONDITION. Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies, 22(1), 87-101.
DOI: 10.24193/jebp.2022.1.5
Published online: 2022/03/01
Published print: 2022/03/01
Keywords: Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, Post-traumatic stress Disorder, University students, COVID-19, Egypt