Coronovirus infection as a novel delusional topic

Ovejero, Santiago; Baca‐García, Enrique; Barrigón, María Luisa

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2020.05.009

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Similar findings have since then emerged from other countries and cultures (4,5). There are also reports of coronavirus infection-related delusions and hallucinations in vulnerable people from China (13) and elsewhere (14). A range of negative mental health consequences are likely during the pandemic (for example, due to fear of catching coronavirus infection, underlying health conditions, losing loved ones due to COVID-19, withdrawal of other healthcare and community services, or a consequence of quarantine measures) and for years to come after it is over (for example, trauma due to the experience of illness or bereavement, survival guilt, unemployment and financial losses) (6,15).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Coping With COVID-19: Mindfulness-Based Approaches for Mitigating Mental Health Crisis

et al. 2021

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The novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 that first emerged in Wuhan, China, in Nov-Dec 2019 has already impacted a significant proportion of the world population. Governments of many countries imposed quarantines and social distancing measures in 2020, many of which remain in place, to mitigate the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus causing the COVID-19 disease. The direct impact of COVID-19 on people infected with the virus, their families and the health care workers, as well as the impact of the mitigation measures such as quarantine, social distancing, and self-isolation on the rest of the population have contributed to a global mental health pandemic, including anxiety, depression, panic attacks, posttraumatic stress symptoms, psychosis, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and suicidality. These effects are present acutely (for example, due to fear of contamination or losing loved ones, effects of quarantine/isolation, withdrawal of community and social services, etc.) and may continue long after the pandemic is over (for example, due to bereavement, unemployment, financial losses, etc). The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered mental health problems in people without previous history of mental illness, as well as worsened the symptoms in those with pre-existing psychiatric diagnosis. Therefore, the global effort is called for to deal with this mental health pandemic secondary to COVID-19 itself to address the emergence of new as well as the exacerbation of the existing mental health issues. Conversely, this global context provides an extraordinary opportunity for studying individual differences in response to and resilience in the face of physical and psychological threat, challenge to “normal” way of life, and long-term uncertainty. In this viewpoint article we outline the particular suitability of mindfulness, its skills and mechanisms, as an approach to the prevention and management of mental health issues, as well as to the promotion of well-being and building the foundations of adaptability and flexibility in dealing with the long-term uncertainty and profound changes to the social, economic, and possibly political systems as this pandemic continues to unfold.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Coping With COVID-19: Mindfulness-Based Approaches for Mitigating Mental Health Crisis

et al. 2021

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“…Supplementary Table 1 available at provides a summary of characteristics of the included studies in this review. 2,4-50…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…21,22 There were three case reports with new-onset non-reactive psychosis: one in a patient self-medicated with chloroquine; 23 one in a patient who had been recently admitted to hospital for COVID-19 infection and received treatment including hydroxychloroquine and prednisone; 30 and one in a patient who was admitted for COVID-19 infection and developed psychosis requiring a second admission to the hospital. 31 Three studies reported a relapse of psychosis triggered by the stress of the pandemic 35,36 or quarantine. 37 In one of these cases, the patient had incorporated COVID-19 into their delusional system, and developed symptomatic COVID-19 infection during their hospital stay; 36 and in another case, the patient was found to have a positive COVID-19 test result.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: narrative review

Zhand

Joober

2021

BJPsych open

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Background COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, by the World Health Organization. The pandemic has had unprecedented worldwide implications, in particular on marginalized populations. Aims The aim of this study is to review the impact of the pandemic on patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Method A number of databases were searched for this review, including PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Google Scholar. Search terms included psychosis and COVID-19, schizophrenia and COVID-19, and severe mental illness and COVID-19. We included all English language papers and preprints. The final search was done on 15 July 2020. Results Forty-seven relevant studies were identified and included in this review. Studies were summarised into five main subcategories: potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical health outcomes of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, impact on mental health outcomes, review of case reports and case series to date, treatment recommendation guidelines and risk of increased prevalence of psychosis. Conclusions Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders may be vulnerable to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This patient population has a number of risk factors, including psychosocial adversities and illness related factors. Continuous monitoring and long-term studies of the impact of the pandemic on this patient population are required.

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“…There is a growing body of the literature on the role of the COVID-19 crisis in the genesis of psychotic symptoms in both the general population and in patients with preexisting mental disorders [ 5 , 24 – 27 ]. Many reports of individuals experiencing psychosis in response to the coronavirus were published during the first months of the pandemic [ 9 , 28 – 39 ]. However, the majority of these reports were based on single-center case series and spanned heterogeneous acute psychotic conditions (such as organic, affective, and non-affective psychoses) (see Table 1 for further details of the systematic review [ 40 ]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of them developed suicidal symptoms in the context of her delusional beliefs Mehra et al [ 38 ] April 2020 India Case report 2 No Two elderly patients (a 72-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman) experienced a recurrence of depression triggered by the fear of contracting COVID-19. The woman's depression had psychotic features Ovejero et al [ 39 ] April 2020 Spain Case report 1 No A 41-year-old woman with bipolar disorder had a manic episode with psychotic symptoms in which COVID-19 infection was a delusional topic Rentero et al [ 29 ] May 2020 Spain Case series N/S N/S Clinicians from a consultation-liaison psychiatry unit reported that several patients from their hospital were experiencing psychotic symptoms as an acute neuropsychiatric manifestation of COVID-19 infection Valdés-Florido et al [ 9 ] April 2020 Spain Case series 4 Yes Two men and two women, one of whom had a past history of BPD, showed reactive psychoses attributed to the psychological distress caused by the COVID-19 healthcare and economic crisis. Two of these patients were suicidal at the time of evaluation Weise et al [ 30 ] April 2020 Germany Case report 1 No Psychotic symptoms and severe suicidal behavior of a woman in her mid-60 s with delusional disorder worsened as a result of the coronavirus pandemic Zulfiki et al [ 31 ] February 2020 Malaysia Case report 1 Yes A 31-year-old man with no past history of psychiatric disorders had ...…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical characterization of brief psychotic disorders triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic: a multicenter observational study

Valdés-Florido

López‐Díaz

Palermo-Zeballos

et al. 2021

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

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This study aimed to characterize the clinical profile of patients with brief psychotic disorders (BPD) triggered by the psychosocial distress derived from the COVID-19 crisis. A multicenter study was conducted from March 14 to May 14, 2020 (the peak weeks of the pandemic in Europe). All consecutive patients presenting non-affective psychotic episodes with a duration of untreated psychosis of less than 1 month and whose onset was related to the COVID-19 crisis were recruited, but only those patients meeting Diagnostic Statistical Manual 5th edition (DSM-5) criteria for “BPD with marked stressors” (DSM-5 code: 298.8) during follow-up were finally included. Patients' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were collected at baseline and summarized with descriptive statistics. During the study period, 57 individuals with short-lived psychotic episodes related to the emotional stress of the COVID-19 pandemic were identified, of whom 33 met DSM-5 criteria for “BPD with marked stressors”. The mean age was 42.33 ± 14.04 years, the gender distribution was almost the same, and the majority were rated as having good premorbid adjustment. About a quarter of the patients exhibited suicidal symptoms and almost half presented first-rank schizophrenia symptoms. None of them were COVID-19 positive, but in more than half of the cases, the topic of their psychotic features was COVID-19-related. The coronavirus pandemic is triggering a significant number of BPD cases. Their risk of suicidal behavior, their high relapse rate, and their low temporal stability make it necessary to closely monitor these patients over time. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00406-021-01256-w.

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Coronovirus infection as a novel delusional topic

Cited by 17 publications

References 8 publications

Coping With COVID-19: Mindfulness-Based Approaches for Mitigating Mental Health Crisis

Coping With COVID-19: Mindfulness-Based Approaches for Mitigating Mental Health Crisis

Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: narrative review

Clinical characterization of brief psychotic disorders triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic: a multicenter observational study

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