Clinical features of the course of depressive disorders in patients with COVID-19

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 and the severe course of most cases, the high risk of fatalities and related gossip. All these factors can lead to significant mental pressure and the development of maladaptive reactions - depression, fear, anxiety, which can directly cause the development of certain behaviors. Such behavioral patterns include: a decrease in altruistic behavior, an increase in actions aimed at biological self-preservation, not infrequently even deceptions regarding infection and/or contact with patients. The COVID-19 pandemic is also accompanied by a widespread "infodemic" and a predicted future "epidemic" of panic. This usually predictably causes public psychological reactions. These include: tension, fear and anxiety, loss of plans and orientations for the future, all of the above can lead to an acute reaction to stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other emotional disorders. In the examined 144 patients (73 women and 71 men), aged 25–55 years, depressive disorders were presented as follows: prolonged anxiety-depressive reaction reaction (F43.22), moderate depressive episode (F32.1), severe depressive episode (F32.1), organic depressive disorder (F06.32). The vast majority of examined patients noted the psycho-traumatic nature of the fact that they were diagnosed with COVID-19 and complained of a sense of loss of control over the situation, helplessness, a sense of danger, low mood, anxiety, panic, hopelessness, apathy, fear of death, loss of a sense of satisfaction, despair. Also, according to the data of the psychodiagnostic study, the examined patients are characterized by low communicativeness, isolation, disturbing vindictiveness, a tendency to dramatize and negatively evaluate events and facts. Analysis of self-assessment of the severity of autoaggressive predictors according to Pylyaginou G.Ya. showed that patients are characterized by moderate levels on the scales of autoaggression and impulsivity. In which criticism of interpersonal communication problems, affective and vegetative disorders decreases.

Keywords: depression, anxiety, fear, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).