Scientific publications
Coping behaviors to reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms: a prospective repeated assessment study. Scientific Publication
Lydia Fortea 1 , Aleix Solanes 2 , Edith Pomarol-Clotet 3 , Maria Angeles Garcia-Leon 3 , Adriana Fortea 4 , Carla Torrent 4 , Cristina Varo 5 , C Mar Bonnin 6 , Laura Montejo 6 , Jordi Alonso 7 , Susana Carmona 8 , Pau Soldevila-Matías 9 , Irene Alustiza 10 , Daniel Arbós 2 , Diego Hidalgo-Mazzei 11 , Iria Grande 6 , Eduard Vieta 6 , Miquel Àngel Fullana 4 , Joaquim Radua 12
Introduction: Health institutions provide general recommendations to cope with global crises such as pandemics or geopolitical tensions. However, these recommendations are mainly based on cross-sectional evidence. The preregistered Repeated Assessment of Behaviors and Symptoms in the Population (RABSYPO) study sought to establish prospective longitudinal evidence from a cohort with a demographic distribution similar to that of the Spanish population to provide evidence for developing solid universal recommendations to reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms during times of uncertainty.
Material and methods: We first recruited via social networks a pool of Spanish individuals willing to participate and then randomly selected some within each stratum of age X gender X region X urbanicity to conduct a one-year-long bi-weekly online follow-up about the frequency of ten simple potential coping behaviors as well as anxiety (GAD-7) and depressive symptoms (PHQ-9). Mixed-effects autoregressive moving average models were used to analyze the relationship between past behaviors' frequency and subsequent symptom changes across the twenty-seven time points.
Results: Among the 1049 who started the follow-up, 942 completed it and were included in the analyses. Avoiding excessive exposure to distressing news and maintaining a healthy/balanced diet, followed by spending time outdoors and physical exercise, were the coping behaviors most strongly associated with short and long-term reductions of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Engaging in relaxing activities and drinking water to hydrate were only associated with short-term symptom reductions. Socializing was associated with symptom reductions in the long term.
Conclusions: This study provides compelling prospective evidence that adopting a set of simple coping behaviors is associated with small but significant reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms during times of uncertainty. It also includes a layman's summary of this evidence to help develop general recommendations that serve as universal tools for enhancing mental health and well-being.
CITATION Span J Psychiatry Ment Health. 2024 Sep 1:S2950-2853(24)00051-6. doi: 10.1016/j.sjpmh.2024.08.003
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