COVID-19 patients are prone to psychotic symptoms after recovery: Report

People may develop severe psychotic symptoms after recovering from COVID-19 illness, according to an article published in the New York Times. According to the report, several patients, who have had COVID-19 disease lately, are showing psychotic symptoms across the United States, including at South Oaks Hospital in New York, which has a psychiatric treatment program for in-house COVID-19 patients. 

Read: UK Woman Returnee To AP Tests Positive For Contagious Variant Of COVID-19

Psychotic symptoms

According to the report, Dr. Hisam Goueli, who works at the South Oaks Hospital, said that he has seen at least four patients with no history of mental illness, who were showing psychotic symptoms after recovering from COVID-19 disease. Goueli said that one of his patients, who wants to remain anonymous, is seeing images of murdering her own children.

Read: COVID-19: Belarus Becomes First Country After Russia To Begin Inoculation Using Sputnik V 

Goueli said that may be this is because of her COVID-19 history or may be not, adding that what appears to be shocking is that she is not the only recovered coronavirus patient reporting these kinds of symptoms. He said that so far he has seen several patients with COVID-19 past reporting similar symptoms. 

Goueli said that one of his patients became so paranoid that she thought her three children is going to be kidnapped and to save them she tried to push them through the drive-thru window at a restaurant. Goueli said that one patient saw he is being murdered by his cousin and to save himself he tried to strangle him on the bed. 

Read: Hospitals Being Overwhelmed By New COVID-19 Peak: UK Health Chiefs

Matter of concern

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, public health officials called for better mental health programmes for patients recovering from the deadly disease. The focus was always on the mental effect that the disease can have on people who have had to stay in isolation for long. However, this is the first time when such psychotic symptoms are being reported in people with COVID-19 history, which is a matter of concern for health officials across the world. 

Read: CAPFs Asked To Prepare For Providing Assistance In Waste Disposal During COVID-19 Immunisation