COVID-19 Psychological Implications: The Role of Shame and Guilt

The recent spread of COVID-19may have dramatic consequences formental health. As the present pandemic may imply an exposure to death or threatened death or serious physical injury, this situation involves a prolonged alert condition that can have significant psychological consequences on several levels (Greenberg et al., 2020). Besides the constant fear of being infected, other negative emotions may represent a serious issue for mental health. Shame and guilt are two distinct negative self-conscious emotions that can be triggered by the present pandemic. As evidenced by Tangney and colleagues (Tangney andDearing, 2002; Tracy et al., 2007) and by recent contributions (Cândea and Szentagotai-Tˇata, 2018), when shame and guilt are not properly recognized and managed, they are in various ways related with severe psychological symptoms that can become a serious threat for mental health. In the present paper, shame and guilt functioning is presented, and their relations with the current pandemic situation are discussed.