Lexical analysis of statements about COVID-19 of people with a high level of somatization

Relevance. One of the negative consequences of the pandemic may be an increase in somatization. The analysis of statements about the pandemic makes it possible to identify peculiarities of attitude to the situation by people with different psychological problems.

The aim of the study was the identification of implicit characteristics of texts indicating the peculiarities of the opinion about the situation by people with a high level of somatization.

Materials and methods. The material was obtained in the online survey (03/23/2020 — 01/29/2021, 1188 people). The survey included an assessment of respondents’ condition, it was offered to express an opinion about what was happening in a free form. Used: SCL-90-R, COPE, Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI).

The statements about the pandemic were divided into the two text arrays — “high somatization” and “low somatization”. The frequency of occurrence of vocabulary in these text arrays was estimated.

Results. The analysis showed an increase in somatization as the pandemic developed. The relationship between somatization and anxiety, sleep disturbances, and depression was revealed. Higher rates of somatization are associated with a decrease in emotional coping, an increase in categorical thinking and personal superstitious thinking. The connection between somatization and a number of non-constructive copings is shown. Lexical analysis showed a number of features of texts associated with high somatization, among them the number of pronouns of the first person, a decrease in the tonality of words, a vocabulary of suffering, negative, a decrease in the vocabulary of motivation and resistance, a decrease in vocabulary associated with the body.

Conclusions. The lexical features of statements, typical for respondents with a high level of somatization, were revealed. The connection between somatization and high emotional distress, which manifests itself in negative emotional vocabulary and is associated with a low level of emotional coping, is shown. In the group with high somatization, a contradiction was revealed in the needs and methods of their implementation — the need for help from others is combined with concentration on the self. The "representation" of the pandemic, presented in the text, is "divorced" from somatic manifestations, fear of illness and death. With this “splitting” of mental and somatic functioning, the somatization can perform the function of emotional coping.

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