Covid infection

COVID-19 infection causes almost the same general symptoms as influenza symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath and dry cough. However, as cases spread and research developed, new COVID-19 symptoms were found. Later, it was reported that there were psychotic disorders in COVID-19 patients who had no previous history of mental health problems.

Doctors handle cases of COVID-19 patients who experience psychotic symptoms

Psychosis or psychotic disorders are mental disorders accompanied by disintegration of personality and disruption of contact with reality.

These psychotic symptoms are reported to occur in COVID-19 patients and some of them are experienced by patients who have no history or heredity of mental illness.

One of the cases was told by dr. Hisam Goueli, a psychiatrist at South Oaks Amityville Hospital. That day Goueli received a patient, a physiotherapist aged 42 years, she is also a mother of 4 children aged 2-10 years. These patients present with unusual signs and symptoms.

Sobbing, this patient said she kept seeing her children being brutally murdered and that she had come up with the murder scenario herself.

"It feels, he experienced a scene in a movie like 'Kill Bill'," said Goueli as quoted by The New York Times.

The patient described one of his children as being hit by a truck and 3 others being beheaded.

"My patient says, 'I really love my children and don't know what makes me want to behead them'," said Goueli recounting what his patient said.

Goueli said this patient was infected with COVID-19 last spring (around March-May) with mild physical symptoms. But a few months later she heard the first voice telling her to kill herself, then that voice also telling her to kill her children.

"Maybe (psychotic symptoms) are related to COVID-19, but maybe not," said Goueli. At that time he could not confirm anything.

But then he encountered further cases. Other doctors from various regions of the world have also started reporting receiving similar cases, where patients experience psychotic symptoms a few weeks after recovering from COVID-19. Even though these patients had no previous history of mental illness. COVID-19 Outbreak updates Country: IndonesiaData

1,024,298

Confirmed

831,330

Recovered

28,855

DeathDistribution Map

Similar cases handled by other doctors

The scientific journal BMJ reports a case that happened to a 36-year-old woman who worked as a nurse in a nursing home, was healthy, and had no history of any mental illness.

When infected with COVID-19, this woman experienced symptoms of rhinorrhea (nasal cavity filled with mucus) and nasal congestion without symptoms of tightness, anosmia, or loss of taste. About 4 days after the onset of these symptoms, he was seen to experience an acute change in behavior.

The patient said he had delusions of persecution. Believing her partner will kidnap her three children, she tries to save them by pushing them through the window of the drive-through restaurant.

This COVID-19 patient with acute psychotic symptoms is being treated in a hospital under the supervision of a general practitioner and a mental health specialist.

Beyond individual case reports, British researchers conducted a study of neurological or psychiatric complications in 153 patients with COVID-19 infection. The result was that 10 COVID-19 patients among the 153 participants experienced psychotic disorders. Another study identified 10 COVID-19 patients who also experienced acute psychotic disorders in a hospital in Spain.

Medical experts estimate that such extreme psychiatric dysfunction will affect only a minority of patients. But these psychotic cases are seen as examples of how COVID-19 has the ability to affect mental health and brain function.

How COVID-19 infection affects mental health and brain function

Covid-19, which was initially thought of as a respiratory disease, can cause many other symptoms including neurological, cognitive and psychological effects. These symptoms often occur in COVID-19 patients who do not experience symptoms of respiratory, lung, heart, or serious circulatory problems.

Patient dr. Goueli does not have any breathing problems, but has neurological symptoms such as tingling, headache, or decreased olfactory ability.

Two weeks to several months after the symptoms of COVID-19, they experience an alarming acute psychotic.

Psychotic symptoms in COVID-19 patients are as debilitating as physical symptoms and it is not clear how long these symptoms last and how the treatment is processed.

Multiple patients post -COVID-19 (patient recovering from COVID-19) who is experiencing psychotic problems requires hospitalization for weeks. Doctors are also still trying various treatments to overcome it.

What makes COVID-19 cause psychotic problems

Experts believe that the problems that occur in the brain and nervous system are likely related to the body's immune response experiencing a surge.

Dr. Robert Yolken, a neurovirologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said that people may recover physically from COVID-19. But in some cases, their immune systems can't stop working and stay active in order to "clear a small amount of pending virus".

The continuous active activity of the immune system is one explanation for the symptoms brainfog and memory problems in patients who have recovered from COVID-19. Emily Severance, a schizofernia expert at John Hopkins, says that cognitive and psychiatric impairment after recovering from COVID-19 may be the result of something similar (a non-stop immune response) that occurs in the brain.