Psychiatric disease and screen exposure in adults
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25752/psi.18838Keywords:
Screen time; Psychiatry; Depressive Disorders; Anxiety Disorders; Sleep Wake Disorders.Abstract
Background and aims: Depressive and Anxiety Disorders are nowadays common and have a negative impact on our population. During the last decades, we have witnessed an increasing presence of screen devices in our lives and a trend to incorporate these on our daily routines which led to increasing exposure.
The aim of this paper is to feature the screen exposure pattern of a sample from the Portuguese population and test the hypothetical association of greater screen time exposure and psychopathology, as already exposed by some international authors.
Methods: Using a self-report questionnaire applied during a scheduled appointment, we investigated the daily exposure to different types of screen devices in young adults aged from 18 to 45 years old, who visited an Outpatient Psychiatry Department due to affective and/or anxiety disorders, using as control group a convenience sample from the Primary Health Care.
Results and Conclusions: A clear association between screen time exposure and psychopathology was not found. Nevertheless, we found out that in our sample the majority (72,4%) of the subjects were exposed more than four hours a day. Amongst the control group, those who expose the most are those who frequently used it to fall asleep and also those who experience difficulties initiating sleep.
This paper ensures the need of more research that helps to understand the real impact of screen exposure in our lives and promote a rational use of these technologies.
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