According to a new analysis, people who recover from COVID-19 are more likely to suffer from conditions that affect their mental health or their brain and nervous system than people who recover from the flu or other respiratory illnesses. In other words, if you have had mental health issues after COVID, you are not alone.
What did the study find out?
The new study, published in Lancet Psychiatryexamined millions of medical records to see what diagnoses people were made following a COVID case. The researchers found a variety of “neurological and psychiatric” outcomes ranging from stroke to anxiety to depression. Many of these problems occurred in people with severe cases of COVID, but there were still many in people with mild and moderate cases of the disease.
About a third of COVID patients had one of these diagnoses, and 12.8% of people with COVID had a new diagnosis after their battle with the coronavirus. The remainder included people who had persistent states or had a state in the past and saw it return.
It is likely that not all of them are directly related to COVID. For example, if you have been depressed in the past, you may have depression again, regardless of whether or not you got sick in the meantime. On the other hand, COVID seems to be something special, which is reflected in the numbers.
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We already know that COVID increases the risk of stroke, and the If you spend time in an intensive care unit, your risk of delirium increasesThis can lead to confusion and memory problems. We also don’t know about people who have had COVID but have not come to a doctor or hospital for treatment. They are not included in this study.
Some people who have recovered from COVID infection have also described cognitive problems that are known as “brain fog”. and which may be related to the way the coronavirus affects the brain or an immune system response.
A couple of psychiatrists wrote in an accompanying editorial that some of the mental illnesses that follow COVID can be “psychosocial”. In other words, you can end up with depression or anxiety because of your experiences in the world – hospital visits, isolation, possibly problems with work or finances – and not just because the coronavirus did something to your brain.
Whatever the exact reason, this study emphasizes that COVID and mental health issues are linked. So, if you haven’t felt like you since you got over the infection, you really are not alone. Check Self-help groups “long COVID” When you want to connect with others and consider that it may be time to do so find a therapist to deal with ongoing (or new) mental health problems.
