•During the lockdown.•Two thirds of university students reported at least ‘much’ increase in anxiety.•One third in depressive feelings and.•2.59% an increase in suicidal thoughts.•Major depression ...was present in 12.43%.•Severe distress was present in 13.46%.•Risk factors were:.•Female sex.•History of self-injury.•History of suicidal attempts.•Following studies of law, literature, pedagogics, political sciences and related studies as well as technical but not health sciences.•Beliefs in conspiracy theories.•Enjoyed acceptance ranging from 20 to 68%.•Students of law, literature, pedagogics, political sciences and related studies manifested higher acceptance rates.
: The aim of the study was to investigate mental health in university students in Greece, during lockdown due to COVID-19.
: The data were collected online and anonymously, during lockdown; they included 1104 females (aged 22.08±4,96) and 431 males (aged 22.35±3.11). The analysis included transformation of the data with post-stratification method, descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, Factorial Analysis of Variance and Relative Risk ratios
: The results suggest that during, lockdown major depression was present in 12.43% with 13.46% experiencing severe distress. Risk factors were female sex, history of self-injury, suicidal attempts and following theoretical studies (RR=2–5.71). Conspiracy theories were accepted by 20–68%, with students of theoretical studies manifesting higher rates.
: The results of the current study confirmed that students are at high risk to develop depression and suicidality in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak. They also identified specific risk factors and pointed to the role of believing in conspiracy theories in copying with stress. They also identified populations with higher prevalence of these beliefs. Further targeted research is necessary as well as targeted intervention in vulnerable groups but concerning mental health as well as the reduction of believing in conspiracy theories.
The COVID-19 hit also Greece but due to early measures and their exceptional success, the death toll is one of the lowest in the world. Here we report the results from the analysis of the responses ...to an online survey, from the first 1000 university students, concerning the impact of the lockdown on their mental health. Overall, there was a ‘horizontal’ increase in scores; 42.5% for anxiety, 74.3% for depression, and 63.3% increase in total suicidal thoughts. Quantity of sleep increased in 66.3% but quality worsened in 43.0%. Quality of life worsened in 57.0% (same in 27.9%). There was a 25-3 fold increase in possible clinical cases of depression and an almost 8-fold increase in suicidal thoughts. Almost a third accept and one fifth are open to conspiracy theories concerning COVID-19. To our knowledge this is the first study reporting data concerning the impact of lockdown and quarantine on the mental health of university students. While the acute impact seems clear, the long-term consequences are unknown and although suicidal thoughts have risen substantially, it seems unlikely this will result in deaths. However, the results constitute a clear message that vulnerable populations are at a need for specific interventions concerning their mental health issues.
Introduction:
Stigma concerning mental disorder is a widespread phenomenon concerning the beliefs and attitudes of the public toward mental patients with a significant negative impact on state policy ...and the outcome of the patients.
Material and methods:
The study included 1,363 students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The survey was based on an Internet-based electronic platform. The statistical analysis included analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Yates corrected chi-square test.
Results:
Approximately, 87% of students responded that they know what mental disorder is, 70% were informed from the Internet, 30% consider mental patients responsible for their condition, more than 95% blame the way they were raised and almost 60% consider mental disorder to be heritable. Only a minority feel negatively with a mental patient around and close to 80% would socialize with them. More than 80% accept the need for psychiatric medication treatment but the opinion is split concerning compulsory treatment, and one-third consider medication to be harmful.
Discussion:
The results of this study suggest that most students believe they know much about mental illness; however, overall their responses are contradictory. They reply with confidence although they are informed mainly by the media and the Internet in an unreliable way. A number of factors including gender, specific school or personal experience of mental disorder in the family seem to influence the result. A combined educational plus contact might be necessary to reduce stigma, since education alone seems to exert a weak effect.
Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is an unspecified feeding or eating disorder (USFED) characterized by an exaggerated, unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Τypical eating disorders (EDs) and USFEDs are ...common among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), which complicates metabolic control and disease outcomes. The present systematic review summarizes the evidence on the prevalence of ON symptomatology among patients with DM. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and grey literature were searched, and relevant observational studies were screened using the Rayyan software. The quality of the studies was assessed using the appraisal tool for cross-sectional studies (AXIS) and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS). Out of 4642 studies, 6 fulfilled the predefined criteria and were included in the qualitative synthesis. Most studies relied on the ORTO-15 or its adaptations to identify ON among patients with DM. No apparent sex or age differences exist regarding the prevalence of ON symptoms. None of the studies compared the prevalence of ON in patients with type 1 and type 2 DM. Most of the research was of average to good methodological quality. In conclusion, patients with DM often exhibit ON tendencies, although research is still limited regarding the etiology or mechanistic drivers behind ON and the characteristics of patients with a dual ON-DM diagnosis.
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