Ida Karayan PsyD, LMFT, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
2505 Canada Blvd., Ste. C 91208 Glendale, CA, US

Cleveland Clinic researchers have found a significant increase in patients experiencing stress cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stress cardiomyopathy occurs in response to physical or emotional distress and causes dysfunction or failure in the heart muscle. Patients typically experience symptoms similar to a heart attack, such as chest pain and shortness of breath, but usually do not have acutely blocked coronary arteries. "Th...e COVID-19 pandemic has brought about multiple levels of stress in people's lives across the country and world. People are not only worried about themselves or their families becoming ill, they are dealing with economic and emotional issues" said Ankur Kalra, M.D., a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who led the study. "The stress can have physical effects on our bodies and our hearts, as evidenced by the increasing diagnosis of stress cardiomyopathy we are experiencing." For those who feel overwhelmed by stress, it's important to reach out to your healthcare provider. Exercise, meditation and connecting with family and friends, while maintaining physical distance and safety measures, can also help relieve anxiety." See more

People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 have shared that they continue to suffer from anxiety and stress when they are preparing to leave their homes as they try to cope with their feelings of being marked by COVID-19. Somehow, their prior diagnosis and recovery aren't appreciated as "triumphs" by others, as many experience being treated differently than before their illness and some have shared that family and friends are "different" around them, even via phone and video calls. Stigmas can leave lasting psychological damage that feels like a virtual prison and denigrates the self-worth of people who are already dealing with challenging wellness concerns. Educate yourself and others to help minimize stigma throughout your community and further afield.

As psychological consequences of COVID-19 are emerging, information about mental health in SARS and MERS is useful, if not directly applicable, due to their similarity with the COVID-19 coronavirus. A recent meta-analysis in Lancet Psychiatry described psychiatric symptoms in those harbingers. As with SARS and MERS, common symptoms of post COVID-19 issues may include: confusion, depression, anxiety, memory problems, insomnia. The notion of a virus which causes depression, anxiety, and even self-destructive behavior is disturbing. By monitoring closely and planning, there is hope to mitigate the negative impact significantly while also learning for future pandemics and disasters.

Persistently engaging in negative thinking patterns may raise the risk of Alzheimer's disease, finds a new University College London led study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia. In the study of people aged over 55 researchers found 'repetitive negative thinking' (RNT) is linked to subsequent cognitive decline as well as the deposition of harmful brain proteins linked to Alzheimer's. Lead author Dr Natalie Marchant said: "Depression and anxiety in mid-life and old age are a...lready known to be risk factors for dementia. Here, we found that certain thinking patterns implicated in depression and anxiety could be an underlying reason why people with those disorders are more likely to develop dementia. We hope that our findings could be used to develop strategies to lower people's risk of dementia by helping them to reduce their negative thinking patterns." See more