Transdiagnostic Considerations of Mental Health for the Post-COVID Era: Lessons from the First Surge of the Pandemic

This study investigated whether COVID-19-related psychopathology spans multiple DSM-5 and ICD-11 diagnoses, but not randomly. Two independent studies, one in Italy and one in Israel, analyzed psychiatric data collected during the first COVID-19 surge. The study hypothesized that the complex symptom patterns would be robust enough to appear across different countries and survey methodologies. Results indicated a consistent pattern of symptom clusters across both countries, supporting a transdiagnostic perspective and suggesting the possibility of a novel diagnostic category for COVID-19-related mental health issues.

Sari Goldstein Ferber, Gal Shoval, Rodolfo Rossi, Viviana Trezza, Giorgio Di Lorenzo, Gil Zalsman, Aron Weller, John Mann, Di Meglio