Mental Illnesses Associated with COVID-19 Infection

This chapter reviews the different facets of COVID-19 infection on an individual's mental health. It describes how COVID-19 infection may worsen preexisting psychiatric conditions and discusses the neurobiology of COVID-19. The chapter considers its impact on the brain and how it results in problems with mood, thinking, behavior, cognition, and memory. It reviews the psychological impact of COVID-19 including stress on affected individuals and their family members. Finally, the chapter provides examples on how patients and families can interact with physicians and healthcare clinicians around their mental health issues related to COVID-19 infection. It presents three cases based on our clinical experience working with COVID-19 patients. The first two cases are of patients seen early in the pandemic before the availability of vaccines and antiviral treatment. The third case involves a patient seen more recently.