Abstract
BackgroundSince the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant changes that impacted because of it, people around the world have been left dealing with its consequences—fear of becoming ill and dying, fear of losing loved ones, uncertainty about the future, and imposed social isolation—several elements which could lead to psychological consequences. Moreover, as suggested by recent evidence, the virus acts as a factor in causing psychological symptoms, including depression, anxiety, fatigue, and post-traumatic stress disorder.Case presentationHere, we report a case of a patient with new-onset OCD after his recovery from the coronavirus disease, which presented in the form of recurrent and persistent intrusive thoughts and doubts which responded to medication.ConclusionsThis case shows the potential of COVID-19-associated inflammatory triggers to precipitate or induce obsessive–compulsive symptoms. Although this case cannot support causation, it does stress the bidirectional effects that physical and mental illness share.
Highlights
Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant changes that impacted because of it, people around the world have been left dealing with its consequences—fear of becoming ill and dying, fear of losing loved ones, uncertainty about the future, and imposed social isolation—several elements which could lead to psychological consequences
Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant changes that it caused, people around the world have been left dealing with its consequences— fear of becoming ill and dying, fear of losing loved ones, uncertainty about the future, and the imposed social isolation—several elements which could lead to psychological consequences
Recent evidence has suggested that the virus acts as a factor in causing psychological symptoms, including depression, anxiety, fatigue, and post-traumatic stress disorder [1]
Summary
Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant changes that it caused, people around the world have been left dealing with its consequences— fear of becoming ill and dying, fear of losing loved ones, uncertainty about the future, and the imposed social isolation—several elements which could lead to psychological consequences. He self-reported that the recurrent and persistent intrusive thoughts were decreasing in intensity by approximately 60% on a scale from 0 to 100, but he still had them from time to time; the dose of escitalopram was increased to 20 mg, and he was given another appointment after 1 month at which he reported that most of these thoughts had disappeared and he started resuming his routine and daily living activity He dropped out of his psychotherapy sessions after the second visit, so he was advised to continue using the medication and was given a follow-up appointment
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