Evaluation of the Perceptions about the Covid-19 Pandemic of Patients with the Diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Qualitative Study 'Fires again, me again'

Abstract: Objective: Covid-19 pandemic has raised concerns about how to deal with the psychiatric aspects of the pandemic and it was a matter of curiosity how the perceptions of individuals would be who already had a psychiatric diagnosis, especially a vulnerable diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). We aimed to explore the perceptions about Covid-19 pandemic in a sample of individuals with the diagnosis of GAD. Methods: Qualitative data obtained using a semi-structured interview questionnaire by a psychiatrist with 33 individuals diagnosed with GAD. Results: 14(42.4%) of the participants were male, 19(57.6%) were female. Average age was 34.7. 7(21.2%) participants had Covid-19 infection. Three main themes were determined as " learning from the pandemic process", "impact of the pandemic process on changes in personal development", "effects on the psychiatric treatment process". Sub-themes; 'value of health ',' patience', 'importance of cleanliness and hygiene', 'changing world', 'difficulties of staying at home', ' necessity of preparing yourself for the worst', 'people are no good for anyone but themselves', 'things happen to happen' 'learning to be happy with little things', 'being able to read more books', ‘uncertainty’ 'spending time with children' 'enduring', 'discipline', 'negativities added to health', ‘no change’ 'fires again, me again' and 'worsening with stress factor' ' awareness ' 'experience' 'helped-it, it was good’ have been detected. Conclusions: People with the diagnosis of GAD may be particularly vulnerable to the psychological effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. But their positive and negative appraisals and coping behaviour could prevent or ameliorate future problems.