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Coronavirus patients on ventilators show severe symptoms of PTSD: Study

WION Web Team
London, United KingdomUpdated: Feb 09, 2021, 09:23 PM IST
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Coronavirus patients on ventilators Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

The patients who received treatment at home or the people who required no medical help at home (but experienced breathing problems) showed fewer symptoms of PTSD

Coronavirus pandemic has been tough on everybody, be it the people who contracted the deadly disease, their families and friends or even the people who were safe from the virus but had to face repeated lockdowns and paranoia.

One major effect that this deadly coronavirus pandemic has left on patients — recovered and battling — has been extensive symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Recent research by the Cambridge University Press has revealed that one in three patients of COVID-19 who have been put on a ventilator is now experiencing severe symptoms of PTSD.

This study was conducted on 13,409 survivors of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 from the UK. 

"Although there has been considerable speculation as to the likely deleterious effects of COVID-19 infection on mental health, some types of mental health symptoms may be especially anticipated to occur in people who have been infected," the study reads.

The researchers collected data in May 2020 for a broader study titled 'The Great British Intelligence Test' (GBIT). 

The data revealed that patients often experienced flashbacks of being plugged to the ventilator, and also images of ICU or doctors wearing the PPE kits and other patients in the ICU.

However, the patients who received treatment at home or the people who required no medical help at home (but experienced breathing problems) showed fewer symptoms of PTSD.

This research has helped prove the point that many scientists have been trying to make about the relation of the coronavirus pandemic and mental health. As per several experts, the pandemic has negatively affected people's mental health, and this study has further proved the seriousness of the situation.