COVID‑19 and post‑traumatic stress disorder: The perfect ‘storm’ for mental health (Review)
Open accessAbstract
Since its outbreak, in December, 2019, in the Chinese city of Wuhan, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has evolved into an ongoing global pandemic. Due to the novel antigenic properties of this virus, the world population could not develop immunity effectively and this led to the subsequent spread of COVID-19. This caused an unprecedented emergency situation with significant negative effects on health and well-being both on an individual and societal level. Apart from health, economic and social consequences, the impact of this pandemic on mental health is increasingly being reported in the scientific literature. The present review aimed to provide a comprehensive discussion of the possible neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of SARS-CoV-2, together with the related underlying molecular pathways. In addition, the present review focused on populations which are at a higher risk of developing psychiatric disturbances due to the COVID-19 pandemic and discussed possible routes of clinical management and therapeutics to minimize the burden associated with psychiatric disorders. Moreover, research findings exploring the prevalence of COVID-19-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms across vulnerable groups, including children, adolescents and COVID-19 survivors are presented, with particular emphasis on those with severe disease who required hospitalization and/or intensive care unit admission. Based on the available literature, the identification of potential determinants associated with PTSD across the different populations is underlined. Lessons learnt from the pandemics across the globe together with the ongoing research on COVID-19 and its impact on mental health, highlight the utmost importance for evidence-based, proactive and targeted interventions in high-risk groups aiming to mitigate the risks and manage vulnerabilities.
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An increase in subthreshold PTSD was found across different populations and cultures, possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Such an increase in subthreshold PTSD was also found across different populations and cultures, which might be due to the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe [19–21].”
From Effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for Chinese adults with PTSD symptoms: protocol for a randomised controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [19]
Section 4 (page unavailable) discusses sub-threshold PTSD and reports post-traumatic stress symptoms in COVID-19 patients. The Conclusion (page unavailable) says COVID-19 poses a risk of PTSD in vulnerable groups, but the review does not report a measured increase in subthreshold PTSD across different populations and cultures. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Mak, B. S. W., Zhang, D., Powell, C. L. Y. M., Leung, M. K. W., Lo, H. H. M., Yang, X., Yip, B. H. K., Lee, E. K. P., Xu, Z., & Wong, S. Y. S. (2024) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-024-05840-x · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Giannopoulou, I., Galinaki, S., Kollintza, E., Adamaki, M., Kympouropoulos, S., Alevyzakis, E., Tsamakis, K., Tsangaris, I., Spandidos, D., Siafakas, N., Zoumpourlis, V., & Rizos, E.
- Affiliations
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR)
- National Hellenic Research Foundation (GR)
- University General Hospital Attikon (GR)
- University of Crete (GR)
- Corresponding author
- Rizos, Emmanouil
- ORCID
- Venue
- Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine
- Publisher
- Spandidos Publications
- Published
- 2021-08-11
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1162-1162
- ISSN
- 1792-0981 (ISSN-L)
- 1792-1015
- PMC
- PMC8392877
- OpenAlex
- W3190548677
- Cited by
- 81
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 2.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- St George's Online Research Archive (St George's University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- National Hellenic Research Foundation Helios Repository (National Hellenic Research Foundation) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health, neuropsychiatric symptoms, neurological symptoms, vulnerable populations, children and adolescents, COVID-19 survivors, intensive care unit admission, risk factors, psychiatric intervention, therapeutics
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