Many Covid-19 survivors, who overcame the lethal viral infection, were now facing moderate to major psychiatric disorders and approaching shrinks in Ranchi for help, doctors from leading psychiatry institutes in the state capital said on Wednesday.
Most of the patients complained of symptoms associated with anxiety disorders, insomnia and Post Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD), said doctors, highlighting that many survivors lived in constant fear of contracting a severe illness as an aftermath of Covid-19 infection. A 28-year-old man from Ranchi, who recovered from Covid-19 infection after being hospitalized for a week in mid-August, was yet to overcome the trauma and stress associated with the viral infection. The fear of passing on the virus to his children and spouse has forced him to live in isolation despite testing negative for SARS-COV-2 virus on August 20.“He consulted me over voice call while he was still hospitalised.
I have done a few sessions with him over video call since he was discharged, but the fear of passing on the virus to his loved ones still haunts him and keeps him confined in his room,” said Dr. Siddharth Sinha, a senior resident at Ranchi Institute of Neuropsychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS).
This Covid survivor developed a patch in his lung while he was battling the virus, and suffered from severe breathing issues, said Sinha.
It was challenging to treat a patient who faced problems in breathing as sleep aiding medications are not recommended for such patients, added Sinha.
“He is still living in extreme fear, and keeps seeking reassurances about his Covid test results by volunteering to get retested at private labs,” he said.
Similarly, a 30-year-old Ranchi woman, who recovered from the virus in early August, was suffering from Health Anxiety Disorder and has sought help from Dr. Nishant Goyal, an Assistant Professor at the Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) in Ranchi. “She is suffering from sleeplessness, extreme anxiety and fear of falling ill and dying of a major illness,” Goyal said.
Explaining the common psychiatric disorders among Covid survivors, Goyal said that most of the patients who approached him were suffering from anxiety associated with the fear of falling ill, extreme stress and uncertainty about the future.
“It takes at least six months to diagnose if someone is suffering from PTSD or not. However, if the post recovery psychiatric disorders among Covid survivors are neglected, then they may develop PTSD in future,” said Goyal.
An independent survey conducted at San Raffaele hospital in Milan found that more than half of the Covid-19 patients who received treatment at a hospital suffered from some or the other psychiatric disorder a month later.
The same trend could be visible in Ranchi too, but many survivors did not seek psychiatric help due to the stigma associated with mental health in India, say doctors. No survey on the aftermath of Covid infection on the mental health of a survivor has been conducted in Jharkhand so far. However, with a steep rise in the cases of infection in state, the count of survivors seeking psychiatric help has also increased, say doctors.
Around half a dozen Covid survivors were undergoing treatment at CIP, while many patients chose to seek treatment from psychiatrists practicing in private clinics.
As per Government data, there were 15,043 active cases of Covid infection in Jharkhand, while 28,364 patients had recovered. As many as 428 Covid patients have died of the infection in Jharkhand so far.