**5. Conclusions**

Lockdown measures are still the best available containment strategy in limiting the spread of viruses despite their negative long-lasting psychological impact related to isolation and loneliness.

The impact of COVID-19 may differ from the general population in psychiatry patients; however, the responses to exposure to a stressful situation, such as a COVID-19 lockdown, in psychiatric patients have been underinvestigated.

The present study compared the psychiatric symptoms and functioning in several specific areas of patients living in residential communities before and during the lockdown in Italy. Lockdown measure may be an additional form of containment along with daily routines and adequate social support that can be an effective safeguard against the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, P.C., J.B., B.B., and A.M.G.; methodology, P.C.; formal analysis, P.C.; data curation, I.d.P., V.M., A.P., F.V., and F.D.T.; writing—original draft preparation, P.C., J.B., and B.B.; writing—review and editing, S.F., A.M.G., and C.C.; supervision, A.M.G. and S.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Department of Human Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, "Sapienza" University of Rome (IRB-2020-6 approved on 23/03/2020).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Written informed consent has been obtained from the patient(s) to publish this paper.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to request from Mental Community where data have been collected.

**Acknowledgments:** The data of this study were collected thanks to participation of the Manager and Staff of Community Mental Health Service "Reverie".

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
