Cargando…

First Person Account COVID 19 Delirium in a Doctor: When Death Stalks the Mind

Previous studies reported that 20–30% of COVID-19 patients will develop delirium during the hospitalization, achieving 70% in cases of severe illness. The risks factors and the consequences of delirium are well-documented in the literature; however, little is known about the personal experience of d...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Arumi, Antonio, Bulbena-Cabre, Andrea, Bulbena, Antonio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7876059/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33584389
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.626648
_version_ 1783649898425483264
author Arumi, Antonio
Bulbena-Cabre, Andrea
Bulbena, Antonio
author_facet Arumi, Antonio
Bulbena-Cabre, Andrea
Bulbena, Antonio
author_sort Arumi, Antonio
collection PubMed
description Previous studies reported that 20–30% of COVID-19 patients will develop delirium during the hospitalization, achieving 70% in cases of severe illness. The risks factors and the consequences of delirium are well-documented in the literature; however, little is known about the personal experience of delirium. Delirium burden is common and tends to be distressing even after the delirium episode has resolved. Taking this in mind, the present work provides a first-person account of a doctor who acquired Covid-19 and developed bilateral pneumonia and had delirium and a complicate course of illness. During the course of his delirium, the patient recalled experiences of reality and unreality, complete disorientation, lack of control, strong emotions, and intense fear of dying which was significantly distressing. We anticipate that delirium burden will be common on these patients and family members and clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon in order to evaluate the neuropsychiatric consequences of this condition.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7876059
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-78760592021-02-12 First Person Account COVID 19 Delirium in a Doctor: When Death Stalks the Mind Arumi, Antonio Bulbena-Cabre, Andrea Bulbena, Antonio Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Previous studies reported that 20–30% of COVID-19 patients will develop delirium during the hospitalization, achieving 70% in cases of severe illness. The risks factors and the consequences of delirium are well-documented in the literature; however, little is known about the personal experience of delirium. Delirium burden is common and tends to be distressing even after the delirium episode has resolved. Taking this in mind, the present work provides a first-person account of a doctor who acquired Covid-19 and developed bilateral pneumonia and had delirium and a complicate course of illness. During the course of his delirium, the patient recalled experiences of reality and unreality, complete disorientation, lack of control, strong emotions, and intense fear of dying which was significantly distressing. We anticipate that delirium burden will be common on these patients and family members and clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon in order to evaluate the neuropsychiatric consequences of this condition. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-01-28 /pmc/articles/PMC7876059/ /pubmed/33584389 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.626648 Text en Copyright © 2021 Arumi, Bulbena-Cabre and Bulbena. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Arumi, Antonio
Bulbena-Cabre, Andrea
Bulbena, Antonio
First Person Account COVID 19 Delirium in a Doctor: When Death Stalks the Mind
title First Person Account COVID 19 Delirium in a Doctor: When Death Stalks the Mind
title_full First Person Account COVID 19 Delirium in a Doctor: When Death Stalks the Mind
title_fullStr First Person Account COVID 19 Delirium in a Doctor: When Death Stalks the Mind
title_full_unstemmed First Person Account COVID 19 Delirium in a Doctor: When Death Stalks the Mind
title_short First Person Account COVID 19 Delirium in a Doctor: When Death Stalks the Mind
title_sort first person account covid 19 delirium in a doctor: when death stalks the mind
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7876059/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33584389
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.626648
work_keys_str_mv AT arumiantonio firstpersonaccountcovid19deliriuminadoctorwhendeathstalksthemind
AT bulbenacabreandrea firstpersonaccountcovid19deliriuminadoctorwhendeathstalksthemind
AT bulbenaantonio firstpersonaccountcovid19deliriuminadoctorwhendeathstalksthemind