Almost instantly, this doctor could tell that the patient who entered into his psychiatric hospital located in Long Island this summer was beyond the ordinary.
According to a report from The New York Times, Dr. Hisam Goueli's patient, a 42-year-old physical therapist and a mother of four kids had never suffered from psychiatric symptoms or any history of mental illness in the family.
However, there she was, at Amityville, New York-based South Oaks Hospital, sobbing, saying she kept on seeing her kids aged two to 10, being horribly murdered and that she too, had crafted plans of killing them.
Goueli, a psychiatrist said, it was like his patient was "experiencing a movie like 'Kill Bill." He added, his patient described one of her children being run over by a truck and another truncated.
It is a horrifying thing, and he continued that there is "this well-accomplished woman" who says she loves her kids and does not know why she feels this way that he wants to have them decapitated.
COVID-19-Related Condition
The lone remarkable thing about the patient's medical history was that she, who did not grant any interview but allowed Dr. Goueli to share her condition, had become infected with COVID-19 in the spring.
As a COVID-19 patient, she had experienced just mild physical symptoms from the infection, although, a few months after, she heard a voice, initially telling her to kill herself and then telling her to kill her kids, as well.
At South Oaks, comprising an inpatient psychiatric treatment program for COVID-19 patients, Dr. Goueli was not sure if COVID-19 was associated with the psychological symptoms the woman experienced.
Maybe, this is COVID-19 related, and he recalled thinking, adding, "maybe it's not." Then, there's another case, and another, and thus, the psychiatrist said, "something is happening."
Several other doctors have reported similar occurrences across the nation and even around the world. A few COVID-19 patients who had never suffered from mental health problems are said to be developing "severe psychotic symptoms" several weeks following the contraction of COVID-19.
Other Related Stories
In one of several interviews and scientific literature, doctors described a 36-year-old woman who works at a nursing home in North Carolina, became very paranoid, and believed her three kids kidnapped.
Then, to save them, she tried to pass them through a drive-through window of a fast-food restaurant. Another story is that of a New York City-based 30-year-old construction worker who turned delusional that he was imagining his cousin was going to kill him and to protect himself, he attempted to strangle this relative in bed.
Studies on Link Between COVID-19 and Mental Illness
On top of the individual reports mentioned, British research of neurological or psychiatric complications in more than 150 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 showed that 10 individuals had "new-onset psychosis." Meanwhile, another study was able to identify 10 such patients in a hospital in Spain.
Then, in social media groups related to COVID-19, medical professionals are discussing seeing patients who have similar psychiatric symptoms in areas like the Midwest and Great Plains, among others.
According to Durham-based Duke University Medical Center's Dr. Colin Smith, his guess is that "any place that's seeing COVID-19, is perhaps, seeing this."
Meanwhile, medical experts said they are expecting that "such extreme psychiatric dysfunction" will impact just a small percentage of patients.
However, the cases are regarded as examples of another way the process of COVID-19 can impact mental health conditions and brain function.
Check out more news and information on COVID-19 on Science Times.
