Stating that there has been an increase in the types of mental disorders during the coronavirus outbreak, which has been effective in our country since March, experts point out that diseases such as depression, panic attacks, bipolar and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are the most severe. Experts said that attacks were seen in some patients who could not seek medical help within the scope of coronavirus outbreak measures.
Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nermin Gündüz pointed out that with the pandemic process, there has been an increase in the variety of mental disorders and the severity of disorders in existing patients.
There was a serious increase in the types of mental illness
Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nermin Gündüz stated that we are in a process that we have not been able to prevent since March and is still ongoing, and more importantly, we do not know how long it will continue, and said, "Since the pandemic started, we have seen a serious increase in the diversity of our patients or those with new first attack mental illness."
Reminding that some restrictions were imposed on access to hospitals during the pandemic period, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nermin Gündüz said, "Patients were not accepted without an appointment in public hospitals. This was a process that made it difficult for patients to access physicians and make appointments. In fact, there was a very logical reason for this practice. The underlying reason was to prevent this epidemic from increasing more during the pandemic period, to prevent patients from coming to the hospital environment unless it is very necessary, and thus to prevent the epidemic from growing more This practice of the Ministry of Health was also recommended by the World Health Organization."
Attacks started because they could not get medical help
Noting that especially the group of patients with mental health impairment and mental retardation reached the physician more difficultly during the pandemic period, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nermin Gündüz said, "These patients were the group that had difficulty in receiving appropriate medical services in other areas within the health system other than psychiatry. Therefore, especially schizophrenia, the group of psychotic disorders with impaired judgment and ability to evaluate reality, the group of psychotic disorders, especially severe groups of bipolar, groups with intelligence and behavioral disorders, as well as the patient groups that we constantly follow due to dementia were negatively affected by this situation. When patient groups cannot access their physicians and therefore the appropriate prescription, when they cannot prescribe their medication, they start to have attacks because they have disorders with biopsychosocial dimensions. In addition, since the number of existing psychiatric services, outpatient clinics and physicians was significantly reduced, these people could not receive the necessary appropriate medical assistance and serious health problems occurred."
The number of patients suffering from panic attacks has increased
Stating that it is not known how long the pandemic process will continue, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nermin Gündüz noted that this situation increases anxiety and anxiety disorders and said the following:
"Therefore, this uncertainty predisposes people to anxiety and anxiety disorders. Because the human mind wants to find an answer if there is a question, the brain cannot tolerate uncertainty. It wants everything to be certain and within that certain framework, it does not want to worry about the future, it wants to plan. During this period of uncertainty, we have seen a significant increase in anxiety disorders. First and foremost, there has been a significant increase in the number of patients suffering from panic attacks. We have a group of patients who progress with deterioration in mental health, especially schizophrenia. These patients experience delusions that cause them to accept events that do not normally happen as if they happened and hold on to this reality 100 percent. We have also seen cases related to Covid-19 in their delusions. There are also groups of patients who claim to be inventors, claiming that they have found the vaccine against coronavirus and have visual hallucinations about Covid-19. Whatever the traumatic process was related to, its reflection on psychopathology was important for physicians in that sense."
Insomnia triggered bipolar disorder
Pointing out that insomnia triggers discomfort in bipolar patients, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nermin Gündüz said, "When the first statements were made, there was an intense state of panic in everyone and the Ministry of Health usually made statements late in the evening. Unfortunately, we saw that our patients who waited until late hours, especially those who saw a steady increase in the number of cases and could not sleep due to anxiety, unfortunately had attacks. In patients with depression, we witnessed that their views of the world such as 'I am bad, the past is bad, the next life is bad, the environment is bad' and their thoughts that everything will be negative in the next period are reinforced."
Increase in suicide cases
Pointing out that there has been an increase in suicide cases in our country during this process, Gündüz said, "Unfortunately, there have been cases of suicide in thought, plan and actualization. We even had a patient who was infected with the virus at the beginning of the pandemic process and committed suicide thinking that he would not recover, and unfortunately, it resulted in his death."
There was an increase in OCD disorders
Stating that this period also brought economic difficulties, Gündüz continued his words as follows:
"Many of our patients lost their jobs due to restrictions and economic measures. Due to job loss, we had patients who suffered from depression, whose depression was triggered and even suicidal thoughts. We also intervened in these patients. As physicians, we knew that OCDs would also increase in this process, and so it did. The order in the pandemic, that is, everyone washing their hands and being careful about hygiene, made one of our OCD patients feel good. Because in the world they imagined, everyone washes their hands and everyone is careful about hygiene. Since this situation was realized during the pandemic process, he did not have as much trouble as before. In general, we have seen a very serious increase in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, especially in patients who are obsessed with cleanliness. During the pandemic process, when patients with new-onset dermatitis complaints, with wounds that do not go away, itching and dryness on their skin due to too much hand washing, washing their hands up to their elbows, were referred to us from the dermatology outpatient clinic and when we performed a detailed examination, we found that there was an increase in the group with obsessions about cleaning."
