Stress and mental health: The role of emotional schemas and psychological flexibility in the context of COVID-19

Stress has been associated with mental health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, stress responses were identified as an important factor affecting mental health. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. Following a process-based approach, emotional schemas and psychological flexibility seem to be promising processes for understanding these impacts. The present study aims to evaluate the role of two potential processes – emotional schemas and psychological flexibility – in the relationship between stress responses and (positive and negative) mental health. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 583 individuals from the Portuguese population (M age = 44.8, 64.3% females). They completed measures of stress responses, emotional schemas, psychological flexibility, positive and negative mental health. The results demonstrated that emotional schemas and psychological flexibility significantly mediate the relationship between stress responses and mental health. Our findings highlight the importance of attending to emotional schemas and psychological flexibility within stressful contexts. Furthermore, it stresses the need to develop individualised intervention programs that target emotional schemas and psychological flexibility to promote and protect mental health, ultimately decreasing symptoms and increasing well-being. •Emotional schemas mediate the effect of stress on mental health.•Psychological flexibility mediates the effect of stress on mental health.•The negative evaluation of emotions presented the strongest association in a health crisis.