About one in five people have psychiatric disorders between 14 and 90 days after being diagnosed with Covid-19. These are the key data resulting from an extensive survey of 69 million medical records, 62,354 of them diagnosed with Covid-19, conducted by the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford (USA), published in The Lancet. Psychiatric.
“Scientific data of great importance – says Massimo Cozza, psychiatrist and director of the mental health department of ASL Roma 2, the largest metropolitan mental health department in Italy with a catchment area of about 1.3 million inhabitants – which, in light of the new spread of the pandemic in our country confirms the need to implement the response capacity of the ASL public mental health network ”. With this second wave of pandemic, Cozza explains, “in addition to anxiety disorders, there are also stress and insomnia, depression and feelings of anger, which were not noticed in the first epidemic phase. This is due to the persistence of this critical situation.” These disorders, he notes, “ predominantly predominate in two types of subjects: those who have experienced the health aspect firsthand, therefore have either been sick or had close people who are sick or deceased, and those who have lost their jobs. or have suffered damage to their own activity. But there is also a strong malaise among those who suddenly had to live in confined environments for a long time due to quarantine requirements ”.
In the US study, the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorders were anxiety and mood disorders, along with insomnia. It has also been found that adults have approximately doubled the risk of a new diagnosis of psychiatric disorder after Covid-19. Compared to the various studies already conducted, which revealed the concomitant presence of symptoms of anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and insomnia in patients with Covid-19, Cozza notes that this study is the first is carried out. no longer on self-reported exams and symptoms, but on diagnoses in a large number of medical records with a control condition compared to those who did not contract Covid-19. The study also found that a previous year’s psychiatric diagnosis is associated with a higher incidence of Covid-19 diagnoses. “
“The relationship between Covid-19 and psychiatric disorders – the psychiatrist points out – can depend on each person’s history with regard to their social, economic and relational circumstances, without excluding the possibility that it may also be influenced by biological factors,” but not yet identified. ” . Faced with a growing malaise, Cozza concludes, “the advice to bring out your emotions and feelings is to close people or your doctor, as sharing problems already determines a positive effect. However, if the problems over time persist and become incapacitated, it is good to contact a psychologist or psychiatrist, or the public network of mental health centers ”.
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