Pathopsychological features of emotional and cognitive disorders in the structure of post-COVID syndrome

Abstract

In press

In the course of the work to study the pathopsychological features of emotional and cognitive disorders in the structure of post-COVID syndrome, a comprehensive clinical-psychopatholo­gical and psychodiagnostic examination of 167 patients both sexes (85 women and 82 men) with non-psychotic mental disorders against the background of COVID was conducted. It has been established that the dominance in the structure of mental disorders against the background of COVID-19 is complaints of decreased mood, apathy, inactivity, loss of a sense of joy and pleasure, feelings of anxiety, constant internal tension, anxiety over trifles, irritability and impatience, decreased memory, concentration, absent-mindedness, learning difficulties, difficulty concentrating on tasks, decreased performance, and sleep disorders. It was established that the clinical picture of mental disorders in the examined patients is represented by depressive (29.1% of men and 32.1% of women), anxiety (31.4% and 33.4% respectively), astheno-neurotic (24.2% of men and 19.6% of women) and cognitive (15.3% and 14.9% respectively) syndromes. The examined patients are characterized by peaks on the scales of depression, anxiety, somatization, obsessive-compulsive, phobic anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity according to the Symptom Check List-90-Revised; the predominance of severe depressive and anxiety episodes and moderate depressive episodes according to The Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scale; the dominance of high levels of situational and personal anxiety according to The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; the presence of mild and moderate cognitive impairments according to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mini-Mental State Examination; decrease in overall cognitive performance according to Addenbrooke’s cognitive examination.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, COVID-19, cognitive dysfunction.