E-ISSN 2534-9821
 

Case Report 


An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success

Huseyin Altug Yenice, Ozden Arisoy.

Abstract
Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) commonly causes respiratory tract involvements, but can also lead to non-respiratory presentations, including psychiatric complications. While it is relatively rare, acute onset psychosis can also be developed following the infection. The exact mechanisms of Covid-19 to cause psychosis and what treatment options should be applied remain unclear.

Case presentation: A 67-year-old woman, who had a history of clinical recovery from Covid-19 two months ago, presented with acute onset psychotic and depressive symptoms that led to a suicide attempt. While she did not have a significant psychiatric and medical history before, she had strong delusions of guilt at the time of her admission to psychiatry, following the suicide attempt. She thought that she had caused the death of her children by infecting them with SARS-CoV-2, although her children were alive. She also believed that she would be prosecuted, imprisoned and televised for causing her children’s death. Her Beck Depression Score was 62 with her depressive, anxious mood and an irritable, a bit blunted affect. The patient was diagnosed as psychotic depression and hospitalized. After hospitalization she developed persecutory delusions about the health personnel and Capgras delusion about her children who visited the psychiatric ward. The symptoms were intractable and resistant to high doses of combined psychotropic medications. And also the brain imaging revealed widespread vascular pathologies that seemed to be developed recently. A short-term methylprednisolone treatment was started. Interestingly, all her persistent symptoms resolved completely just after this treatment.

Conclusion: Covid-19 appears to cause psychiatric consequences through brain involvement. Short-term steroid therapy may be an option for persistent delusions and affective symptoms that develop after Covid-19 and are resistant to psychotropic drugs. It is also a fact that we need further investigation methods to demonstrate the direct presence or neuroinflammatory consequences of Covid-19 in brain.

Key words: Covid-19, brain, psychosis, delusion, depression, inflammation


 
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Pubmed Style

Yenice HA, Arisoy O. An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success. Int J Med Rev Case Rep. 2022; 6(5): 58-64. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235


Web Style

Yenice HA, Arisoy O. An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success. https://www.mdpub.net/?mno=90919 [Access: December 05, 2023]. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235


AMA (American Medical Association) Style

Yenice HA, Arisoy O. An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success. Int J Med Rev Case Rep. 2022; 6(5): 58-64. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235



Vancouver/ICMJE Style

Yenice HA, Arisoy O. An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success. Int J Med Rev Case Rep. (2022), [cited December 05, 2023]; 6(5): 58-64. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235



Harvard Style

Yenice, H. A. & Arisoy, . O. (2022) An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success. Int J Med Rev Case Rep, 6 (5), 58-64. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235



Turabian Style

Yenice, Huseyin Altug, and Ozden Arisoy. 2022. An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success. International Journal of Medical Reviews and Case Reports, 6 (5), 58-64. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235



Chicago Style

Yenice, Huseyin Altug, and Ozden Arisoy. "An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success." International Journal of Medical Reviews and Case Reports 6 (2022), 58-64. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235



MLA (The Modern Language Association) Style

Yenice, Huseyin Altug, and Ozden Arisoy. "An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success." International Journal of Medical Reviews and Case Reports 6.5 (2022), 58-64. Print. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235



APA (American Psychological Association) Style

Yenice, H. A. & Arisoy, . O. (2022) An acute onset psychotic depression case following Covid-19: Treatment challenges and short-term steroid success. International Journal of Medical Reviews and Case Reports, 6 (5), 58-64. doi:10.5455/IJMRCR.20220224051235