Keywords
Pandemic
Depressive symptoms
Mental health
COVID-19
How to Cite
Abstract
During the pandemic, the most prevalent psychological disorder worldwide was depression, which increased two to threefold compared to the pre-pandemic situation. However, little is known about the specific reasons that triggered it. Therefore, the aim was to explore the specific reasons why the Peruvian population experienced depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 3918 people participated, with an average age of 42.66 years (65.9 % women), whose data and responses were extracted from the Demographic and Family Health Survey of Peru 2021 (ENDES-2021). Participants responded to the question “In the last 12 months, when was one of the times you had these complaints or problems when was it”, which referred to the symptoms described by the PHQ-9. The findings indicated that the reasons why the Peruvian population felt depressed were grief due to illness, death and separation from significant persons, health issues, economic and interpersonal problems, stress due to lack of work and, to a lesser extent, academic reasons. Comparisons by gender did not show significant differences; however, there was a greater tendency for women to worry about children and pregnancy, while men worried about economic issues. It is concluded that the reasons why the Peruvian population became depressed during the pandemic were mainly economic-academic, family and health reasons, from which specific reasons are broken down, such as couple problems, bereavement due to the death of significant persons and concern for children.
References
Ahuvia, I., Chen, S., Gordon, L., Fox, K., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). A Mixed-Methods
Investigation of Adolescents’ Beliefs About the Causes of Depression [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/yf6vq
Antiporta, D. A., Cutipé, Y. L., Mendoza, M., Celentano, D. D., Stuart, E. A., & Bruni,
A. (2021). Depressive symptoms among Peruvian adult residents amidst a National Lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Psychiatry, 21(1), 111. https:// doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03107-3
Ettman, C. K., Abdalla, S. M., Cohen, G. H., Sampson, L., Vivier, P. M., & Galea, S. (2020). Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in US Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Network Open, 3(9), e2019686. https://doi. org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19686
Ferri, E., Navarro, L., & Guzmán Paredes, A. I. (2022). Análisis multidimensional de sentencias judiciales sobre menores. Las potencialidades del software Iramuteq / Multidimensional Analysis of Court Rulings Involving Minors: The Potential of Iramuteq Software. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas. https:// doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.179.145
Joaquim, R. M., Pinto, A. L. C. B., Guatimosim, R. F., De Paula, J. J., Souza Costa, D., Diaz, A. P., Da Silva, A. G., Pinheiro, M. I. C., Serpa, A. L. O., Miranda, D. M., & Malloy-Diniz, L. F. (2021). Bereavement and psychological distress during COVID-19 pandemics: The impact of death experience on mental health. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 2, 100019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2021.100019
Kennedy, S. H. (2008). Core symptoms of major depressive disorder: Relevance to diagnosis and treatment. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 10(3), 271-277. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2008.10.3/shkennedy
Kessler, R. C., Ruhm, C. J., Puac-Polanco, V., Hwang, I. H., Lee, S., Petukhova, M. V., Sampson, N. A., Ziobrowski, H. N., Zaslavsky, A. M., & Zubizarreta, J. R. (2022). Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant
Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID19 Pandemic. JAMA Network Open, 5(6), e2217223. https://doi.org/10.1001/ jamanetworkopen.2022.17223
Khalsa, S.-R., McCarthy, K. S., Sharpless, B. A., Barrett, M. S., & Barber, J. P. (2011).
Beliefs about the causes of depression and treatment preferences. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(6), 539-549. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20785
Koontalay, A., Suksatan, W., Prabsangob, K., & Sadang, J. M. (2021). Healthcare Workers’ Burdens During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Systematic Review. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 14, 3015-3025. https://doi. org/10.2147/JMDH.S330041
Lozano, P., Rueger, S. Y., Lam, H., Louie, N., Southworth, A., Maene, C., Mo, Y., Randal, F., & Kim, K. (2022). Prevalence of Depression Symptoms Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Two Asian American Ethnic Groups. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 24(4), 909-917. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10903-021-01287-4
Meyer, B., & Garcia-Roberts, L. (2007). Congruence between reasons for depression and motivations for specific interventions. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 80(4), 525-542. https://doi.org/10.1348/147608306X169982
Ministerio de Salud. (2018). Plan Nacional de Fortalecimiento de Servicios de Salud Mental Comunitaria 2018-2021. Ministerio de Salud.
Murphy, E., Svob, C., Van Dijk, M., Gameroff, M. J., Skipper, J., Abraham, E., Yangchen,
T., Posner, J., Shankman, S. A., Wickramaratne, P. J., Weissman, M. M., & Talati, A. (2023). The effects of the pandemic on mental health in persons with and without a psychiatric history. Psychological Medicine, 53(6), 2476-2484. https:// doi.org/10.1017/S0033291721004372
Ramesh, K., R, U., Vm, A., Rj, C., & V, N. (2022). Exploring the Pathway towards Depression among Working Married Women – A Qualitative Study Done In Urban
Area of Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu. National Journal of Community Medicine, 13(2), 90-95. https://doi.org/10.5455/njcm.20211224052530
Refaeli, T., & Krumer-Nevo, M. (2021). Mental Distress during the Coronavirus
Pandemic in Israel: Who Are the Most Vulnerable? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1), 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijerph19010124
Reinert, P. M. (1987). Classification Descendante Hierarchique et Analvse Lexicale par Contexte—Application au Corpus des Poesies D’A. Rihbaud. Bulletin of Sociological Methodology/Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, 13(1), 53-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/075910638701300107
Renaud-Charest, O., Lui, L. M. W., Eskander, S., Ceban, F., Ho, R., Di Vincenzo, J. D., Rosenblat, J. D., Lee, Y., Subramaniapillai, M., & McIntyre, R. S. (2021). Onset and frequency of depression in post-COVID-19 syndrome: A systematic review. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 144, 129-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jpsychires.2021.09.054
Rodríguez, T., & Rodríguez, Z. (2020). Intimidad y relaciones de pareja durante la pandemia de la COVID-19 en Guadalajara. Espiral Estudios sobre Estado y Sociedad, 27(78-79), 215-264. https://doi.org/10.32870/eees.v28i78-79.7206
Santana, C. L. A., Manfrinato, C. V., Souza, P. R. P., Marino, A., Condé, V. F., Stedefeldt, E., Tomita, L. Y., & Do Carmo Franco, M. (2021). Psychological distress, low-income, and socio-economic vulnerability in the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health, 199, 42-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2021.08.016
Sousa, Y. S. O., Gondim, S. M. G., Carias, I. A., Batista, J. S., & Machado, K. C. M.
de. (2020). El uso del software Iramuteq en el análisis de datos de entrevistas. Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais, 15(2), 1-19.
World Health Organization. (31 de marzo de 2023). Depressive disorder (depression). World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/ detail/depression
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.