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Paris: A large number of those infected with the emerging coronavirus suffer from psychological disorders such as depression, which may be related to the disease itself, according to some experts.
“Overnight, I lost the desire for anything,” says Guy Shoshana, who was hospitalized in April after contracting the Covid-19 epidemic.
Upon his return to his home after spending two weeks connected to a respirator at the Henri Mondor Hospital in Creteil, France, the 69-year-old retired thought that he had turned the page as he recovered. He told AFP that he felt “very tired” in the first days and then recovered “little by little.” “.
But by September, he could no longer find any pleasure in anything, neither reading, nor food, nor caring for his grandchildren or meeting his friends. “I was sitting from morning to evening,” he says.
However, he was not one of “those who go to see a doctor”, so he resorted to the regular follow-up phone service provided by the hospital to obtain a diagnosis of his symptoms, which enabled him to start treatment in mid-January.
He was told, “You are not alone in this situation.” Many of those who have recovered from Covid-19 suffer from insomnia or attacks of distress and are unable to care for their children.
“After infection with Covid, whether the symptoms are mild or serious, the risk of developing a range of mental illnesses increases,” said Marion LeBuillier, director of the Fundación Fundamental, a network of research on mental illness, speaking to AFP.
Although the phenomenon appears to remain rare for symptoms such as psychotic episodes, of which cases have been reported in the United States in particular, it is more common for other mental illnesses.
The rates of injuries vary from one study to another. The latest study was published on January 8 in the medical journal “The Lancet”, and included 1,700 patients in Wuhan, the first epicenter of the epidemic in China, showing that six months after they were admitted to hospital, 75% of patients were still suffering from at least one of the symptoms of the disease. Most of them complained of muscle fatigue or weakness, but about a quarter of them reported disturbed sleep, anxiety, or depression.
Post-traumatic stress
An English study published in November in the same journal showed that out of 62 thousand American patients whose cases were analyzed, it was found that 18% of them suffer from mental disorders during the three months following their infection with Covid-19, and 5.8% of them did not have any history. The researchers explained that this percentage was 1.6 to 2.2 times higher than the percentage among those hospitalized for other infectious diseases such as influenza, kidney stones, a broken bone, or something similar.
In August, an Italian study published in the journal “Brain Behavior and Immunity” concluded that among a group of 400 patients, more than half (55%) had developed a psychological symptom a month after their admission to hospital.
Summarizing the matter, Marion LeBuillier said, “We estimate that about one in two people who contracted Covid will suffer from psychological or mental symptoms,” indicating a 30% probability of developing depression, 20% of stress disorders, and about 15% of sleep disorders, but also a “large” number of symptoms Post-traumatic stress.
This does not surprise the specialists, after studies in the past showed an increase in the incidence of these disorders after epidemics of Ebola, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
But the official of the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction Treatment at the University Hospital Henri Mondor pointed out that “identifying a state of depression” sometimes several months after contracting an infectious disease “did not fall within the common customs in France.”
“Diseases like they can be treated”
A branch of research known as immune psychiatry is working to demonstrate this link between disease, inflammation and mental disorders.
“We now know that the central nervous system can, according to individuals, be affected, either directly or indirectly, by disease,” the psychiatrist explained.
The emerging corona virus can infect the brain, “especially through smell, which explains perhaps the loss of the sense of smell” in infected people.
In addition, the body’s inflammatory response to fighting injury leaves traces that can be the causative agent of mental illness.
Le Bouillet stressed the importance of launching a “broad awareness-raising campaign” for patients and members of the medical teams, stressing that these symptoms are “similar diseases that can be treated.”
The same applies to Guy Shoshana, who says he’s “a little better” and plans to spend a vacation in the sun at the end of the month, with encouragement from those around him.
At a time when he admits that the deterioration of the health situation in France “affects a lot” on his morale, he says that this trip “may benefit me”.
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