Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 3

Doctors at the PGI have documented the case report of a young woman with psychotic breakdown, who was not suffering from Covid, but believed that she was spreading Covid to others and attempted self-immolation due to the guilt of contracting the infection.

The case study was published in the Asian Journal of Psychiatry on May 21.

A 27-year-old married woman was admitted with 20 per cent superficial thermal burns at the PGI last year. Psychiatry consultation was sought as she refused dressing and medications. On detailed psychiatric evaluation, she was found to be suffering from a psychotic illness for the past three years.

Her symptoms started intensifying after March 2020, when she regularly started following the news related to Covid-19. She remained tense and distressed about the Covid infection. She would express worries regarding her and her family’s health. In the same week, she had some trivial sneezing and sore throat for a day, with no associated fever.

Following this, she started believing that she might be having Covid-19. She knew that Covid-19 spreads through droplets when in close contact with a person who has the disease. However, she believed that in her case, Covid-19 infection developed inside her, though she could not explain it further.

Over the next few days, she found her neighbours sneezing and started to believe that she was spreading Covid to others. She never got tested for Covid, but strongly believed that she was spreading the infection to others. Over the next one month, she started remaining sad and tired most of the time, lost interest in all housework and leisure activities.

She started remaining fearful that people would find out and beat her up and her daughter for spreading Covid and she stopped going outside. She would frequently express a wish to die to her husband to save the family from public humiliation and would think of elaborate plans to kill herself.

“On a morning, while making tea, she tried to kill herself and her daughter. The screams of her child awakened the family members, who quickly rescued them. She sustained superficial burns on both the arms and legs, while her daughter suffered from 30-40 per cent superficial to deep burns on the face,” read the case study.

The doctors found out that she still believed she was carrying Covid-19 infection and was spreading the virus to others. She was managed with electroconvulsive therapy and psychotropics. The patient returned to her usual routine and no adverse reactions were observed. Both her and her daughter’s lesions from burns have healed with minimal scarring.

The doctors have observed that the psychological impact of the pandemic has been wide ranging. Socio-cultural events have been shown to produce significant effect on the development of psychopathology and Covid-19, being a novel stressor, has played a major role in the development and course of various mental illnesses.

“The case report highlights the fact, patients presenting with various neuropsychiatric symptoms, especially exhibiting new set of symptoms, should be routinely be evaluated for the association of such symptoms with beliefs about Covid-19 and its spread,” read report.

Remained tense

The 27-year-old patient, who remained tense and distressed about the Covid infection, started believing that she might be having Covid. She knew that Covid spreads through droplets when in close contact with a person who has the disease. However, she believed that in her case, the Covid infection developed inside her, though she could not explain it further.