The study showed that these brain disorders occur every fifth after COVID-19.

Mental health specialists also emphasize that quarantine and social isolation also contribute to the poor well-being of the population. Professor Arūnas Germanavičius, director of the Vilnius Republican Psychiatric Hospital, told about it in the program “Health Recipe”.

– As I mentioned, one in five people with COVID-19 is later diagnosed with a mental disorder. Why do you think this is happening, what could be the reasons?

– This study you mentioned was published by British scientists, but the sample was from the United States. It really caused a lot of discussion in the world, in the psychiatric community. The conclusions of this study are very ambiguous. First, there is certainly a neurophysiological mechanism by which the coronavirus and the drugs prescribed to treat it and its complications can have neuropsychiatric effects and consequences. Here, the researchers are trying to distinguish which effects are specific to the virus.

We are very concerned that, like other viral diseases, coronavirus infection damages both the central and peripheral nervous systems, causing inflammation. They release many neurotransmitters that damage the central and peripheral nervous systems. The consequence of chronic inflammation may be that the coronavirus progresses to depression or other neuropsychiatric conditions. They can be difficult to treat because the medications will modify the immune response. We also have data in Lithuania that many people who develop fever and inflammation due to the coronavirus have been treated with a hormonal preparation.

It stimulates the effects of adrenal hormones and initially suppresses the immune response, but then depressive disorders, mood swings occur, a person may begin to cry in simple situations, insomnia may occur. It may also be that the anxiety is due to the effects of the disease. In addition, the coronavirus damages small blood vessels, especially in the lungs, but also in the brain.

– As I understand it, people who are seriously ill face these kinds of problems. It can be said that, as the study shows, 20 percent. people face mental health problems?

– Yes, this is a preliminary assessment. About 20 percent. people with coronavirus experience inflammatory factors. Lack of oxygen starves all organs, and the organ that requires the most oxygen and glucose is the brain. If those 20 percent people. Rapid complications do not develop; memory impairment or mild cognitive impairment may occur in the future.

– What would be your advice to those people? If you experience one or the other symptom after a coronavirus, what to do and where to go?

– First of all, two things must be distinguished: the human reaction to the diagnosis of the disease and the fact that he had to abruptly interrupt his normal life, to be treated in a coronavirus room when the faces of the doctors are not visible . are special safety requirements. It also puts a lot of stress on people and has a huge impact on adjustment disorders. It is necessary to make a distinction between whether it is more of an adjustment disorder or more of a neurobiological disease. In the first case, if it is a more adaptive disorder, psychotherapeutic help should be given and only then psychiatric medication. But if the initial reaction is already severe, with severe insomnia, severe mood disorders, antidepressant treatment is needed.

The use of sedatives has now increased significantly. People consume much more alcohol, but also sedatives, hypnotics. However, these substances should only be used on the recommendation of a psychiatrist.

– What number of patients have increased in you, what are their conditions?

– One year after the pandemic, we did not know what we were facing. There was a significant decrease in the number of people admitted to the Republican Psychiatric Hospital in March. Subsequently, the number of patients began to increase but did not reach the rates of older age. Now we are experiencing a large influx of people, the patients who have applied have never been treated in a psychiatric hospital before and have not had such problems, and now they have suddenly developed various mental disorders, addiction to alcohol, drugs. There has been an increase in the number of patients who are taken with the police, handcuffed, often men who put their families at risk.

– In the history of the world there have been more terrible things, various wars and other catastrophes. Do we have to compare this pandemic and its impact?

– In psychiatry, this is a unique time to explore this period. People feel like they are in a certain war, in which they have to be prepared for the worst news, rapid changes all the time, and death is near. This causes long-term stress and could be called collective trauma. We are in a certain captivity.

– How does constant anxiety, boredom, bad mood affect the whole body?

– It depends a lot on each person, it also depends on the help you can get. The amount of internal resources that a person has or suffers from chronic diseases is also important. We see that people with various chronic diseases are more likely to experience anxiety during this pandemic because physical resilience also increases mental resilience. But even mentally healthy people develop a variety of states. As a result, I need to think as much as possible about what makes sense to do today, what my agenda is, and how to deal with the unknown.

– What will the return to a more or less normal life be like, how will we be able to adapt?

– It is important to think about risk groups, now one of the most important risk groups are children and adolescents, the efforts of specialists must be focused on how direct lessons will begin this semester, how children will be able to return to educational institutions . If children stay home, they will see violence, conflict between parents on a daily basis. It is necessary to provide the safest possible environment in educational institutions. In the future, everything will depend on which varieties will be spread in Lithuania. The quarantine should be released accordingly. However, a lot depends on the mobility of people, how people adhere to quarantine. As we know, vaccination does not solve all problems because people sometimes have a negative attitude towards vaccines. As a result, they must respectfully explain what is beneficial and link the benefits with release from quarantine.

– What would you offer to people who are already tired of the quarantine and all the restrictions?

– There is no single methodology, but it is very important to find a significant and favorite activity that can be implemented in these conditions. I think a lot of people have discovered various walking trails during the quarantine. It must be done proactively. British scientists emphasize that jogging is not only important, but also important when we observe every detail of the novelties of that environment. All this makes our psyche more resistant because our mood is regulated by thought and thought. And thoughts can be modified in the way we would like to tilt them. As a result, all Japanese practice shows that a person’s connection with nature is very important, especially in beautiful nature, a person can change his thoughts and deal with stress. We all have to walk 10,000 steps a day.