PTSD Symptoms In COVID-19 Survivors On The Rise, Health Care Professionals Say

With new COVID-19 cases continuing to go down, health experts are noticing virus recovery extends long past medical treatments. Health professionals are seeing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in people who've been hospitalized by the virus. 

PTSD is common in any person who's had a stay in a hospital ICU, but the isolation and medical workers wearing head to toe protective gear has magnified those effects for COVID patients

"Those memories come back and that fear of what's next. Is it the bi-pap mask, is it the ventilator?" said Amy Petitt, the ICU charge nurse at SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital.

Recovered COVID patients are at a high-risk to experience PTSD. The worse their battle with the virus, the more likely they are to have longer lasting mental effects.

"Anything from smell to sound to certain discussions and words that reminds them of when they were in this horrible situation," Dr. Britta Ostermeyer said. 

Ostermeyer is a professor and chairman of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at OU Medicine.

Even a simple cough can be a trigger to someone suffering from COVID related PTSD.

"When you feel like you can't breathe, which COVID is part of that, that just makes your everything worse because your anxiety is through the roof," Petitt said.

A new study out of Rome shows about a third of COVID patients will experience PTSD after recovery. Some not seeing symptoms until months after leaving the hospital.

Those caring for the patients during their fight with COVID are also dealing with mental stress as well.

"Before we would put patients on the ventilator, we would try to have a zoom calls with the families and that was often heartbreaking for the nurses. I can't imagine what the families on the other end felt just having to say goodbye to their loved ones across a computer screen," Petitt said.

Ostermeyer said PTSD varies from person to person.

"Scary nightmares, startling, anger outbursts, inability to sleep," she said.

Experts said the fear of being re-hospitalized might deter people from getting help, but because of COVID, people can get home from their own home.

"Most mental health is delivered online from your secure home and you do not have to come into a clinic or a hospital. So that's the good news," Ostermeyer said.

Experts said connecting with COVID survivor support groups through hospitals or churches is also an option for people experiencing virus-related PTSD.