Metacognition, Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms and Generalised Anxiety During Covid-19 Pandemic

Background: The initiation of a pandemic led to a global crisis. Such prolonged stress can lead to emergence of various mental health conditions, but there must be some predisposing risk factors that can increase the chances of such a mental health condition as per the diathesis stress model of mental health conditions Methods: The online survey was completed by 380 individuals which included 3 standardised questionnaires- Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30), Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Results: Metacognition has a higher correlation with OCD symptoms as compared to the GAD symptoms. Upon conducting a regression analysis Metacognition was seen to cause significant variation in the scores of OCD and GAD both. More than 60% of the people who had higher scores on metacognition are at a risk of developing OCD while exposed to the environmental stressor i.e., the Pandemic. Conclusion: Covid has been a trigger to a lot of negative thinking, exposure to traumatic news and keeping a check on our metacognition is really important. The risk of developing OCD and GAD is very high after the pandemic hence, we shall require more proactive professionals to be ready for a wave of mental health issues that can follow post/during the pandemic.