Indeed, it has been reported that under continued stress, delusions and psychotic experiences can occur in the general population. This phenomenon is found in individuals suffering from depression and anxiety and schizotypal personality disorder.
The investigators wish to demonstrate that self-reported recall of recorded deaths may represent this distortion of perception, symptomatic of these pathologies.
Thus, using an online longitudinal questionnaire, the investigators wish to explore :
- how the memory system is impacted by mass deaths over several trimesters in the general population.
- whether the long-term memory of people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders and people suffering from schizotypal personality disorder contains recollection of a distorted pattern in relation to the actual number of deaths.
Primary goals of this project are:
Determine, in the context of mass deaths, the level and proportion of real or conceived recall of the number of deaths in the general population based on cognitive and affective empathy profiles over four trimesters.
Also the investigators want to determine
- the proportion of real or conceived recall numbers of deaths by COVID-19 among people suffering from depression and anxiety in a context of mass death.
- the proportion of real or conceived recall number of deaths by COVID-19 among people with schizotypal personality disorder.
- the dynamics of this real or conceived recall for four trimester following the end of lockdown. Methodology
The entire study will be conducted online. Participants will provide their informed consent. At these assessment, they will provide a set of self report measures associated to COVID-19 related psychological aspects especially for depression, anxiety and schizotypal personality.
Subjects can only participate once.
Sample size:
There is no minimum/maximum sample size for this study. The study will remain open for 1 year. The sample size should reach 1000 participants at least.
List of self-report measures:
- Brief Trauma Questionnaire (BTQ)
- COVID-Related Thoughts and Behavioral Symptoms (COV-TaBS)
- Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
- State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)
- The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAPS)
- Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE)
- Raine Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, (SPQ)
- Paranoia Scale
