COVID-19 is, above all, a disease with organic symptoms that are addressed from the field of medicine; However, it should not be overlooked that practically all diseases capable of affecting the quality of life in this way or even causing death in the worst cases also have the capacity to generate significant psychological alterations. And this is no exception.
Therefore, it is important to know, even in general terms, the type of emotional, cognitive and behavioral changes that COVID-19 can generate in us; Anticipating them helps to manage them and obtain the appropriate help in each case. So, here we will give a quick review of the psychological effects of COVID-19 taking into account that they do not have to appear in all people who have developed said disease.
What are the most important psychological effects of COVID-19?
Due to its very nature, COVID-19 is not known to be a disease that directly causes psychological alterations; The closest thing known to a change of this type is the affectation of smell due to the way in which the virus can affect the parts of the central nervous system responsible for processing this sense.
However, COVID-19 may facilitate psychological changes in a more indirect way, due to the way in which It affects the lifestyle, the contexts to which the person is exposed, and the expectations. Let’s see it.
1. It can lead to obsessive self-checking patterns
Whether we like it or not, our perception of COVID-19 is generally not calm, serene, or purely rational; It is greatly influenced by the way in which the media has told us about this disease in recent months, the urban legends and myths that already circulate about it, etc. In many cases its danger has been exaggerated or completely erroneous beliefs have been encouraged.
For this reason, many people with COVID-19 internalize the behavioral pattern of self-checking their own health, whether by trying to go to the doctor many times or looking in the mirror a lot, paying close attention to certain symptoms and feeling them more intensely because of it, etc It is a phenomenon similar to hypochondria but in most cases it is not so serious as to be considered a psychopathology.
2. Social isolation
Many people with COVID-19 feel the need to take very extreme measures to socially isolate and minimize the risk of contagion which sometimes turns out to be counterproductive because it damages one’s own mental health more than it protects others from real danger.
3. It leads to concentration and memory problems
A significant portion of people with COVID-19 show problems concentrating on tasks or remembering things, although these cognitive impairments are not permanent and in the vast majority of cases they fade away in a few weeks, just like the rest of the people do. symptoms. It is believed to be due to psychological overload which means adapting to those days of coping with COVID-19, and not due to the direct effects of the virus, although little is still known about this phenomenon.
In the most extreme cases, the discomfort triggered by COVID-19 can take the form of a true psychological disorder, that is, a diagnosable psychopathology that appears in diagnostic manuals such as the DSM-5. Among them, it has been observed that the most common ones that occur among those who have experienced coronavirus disease are anxiety disorders, insomnia, major depression and/or post-traumatic stress. Furthermore, these pathologies can overlap with each other, occurring several times at the same time (for example, depression usually goes hand in hand with anxiety problems, too).
Now, it should be noted that most cases of COVID-19, especially after the first months of the pandemic, are mild and moderate, with relatively little probability of having a psychological impact sufficient to lead to the appearance of one of these disorders. Not only because they do not directly generate much pain or discomfort, but because as hospitalizations are not necessary, the person is exposed much less to stressful situations that are out of the ordinary in their daily lives.
Do you need professional psychological support?
If you are looking for psychological assistance services to better regulate and manage your emotions or learn to cope with anxiety, contact me.
My name is Thomas Saint Cecilia and I am a psychologist specialized in the cognitive-behavioral intervention model; You can count on my services through in-person sessions or by video call.
