Relationship Between Traumatic Stress and the COVID-19 Pandemic

A growing body of literature has captured the adverse psychological impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had globally (Serafini et al., 2020). However, a thorough investigation of the relationships between the COVID-19 pandemic and traumatic stress has not been completed. The purpose of this project was to conduct this thorough examination. It was hypothesized that literature would support a positive relationship between traumatic stress and the COVID-19 pandemic. Four hundred and twenty-two articles were initially identified as related to the research question. Each article was examined and was excluded from the systematic review if it was a duplicate record, an intervention study, case study, or commentary, or if the article was not available in full-text format. Studies that did not include an assessment of traumatic stress were also excluded. Eight articles were included in the final systematic review. The results suggest a positive relationship between traumatic stress and the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, studies suggest the presence of traumatic stress related to COVID-19 among the general population, healthcare workers, individuals with comorbid depression symptoms who were quarantined, psychiatric patients, individuals returning to work, Chinese youth and samples from the general public. Results of this review support the hypothesis that individuals from a variety of populations may experience traumatic stress that is related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation will include a table highlighting the findings from each article included in the review and discuss implications and suggestions for future research.