
- Vol 38, Issue 2
- Volume 02
COVID-19 Pandemic’s Effects on Assessment & Psychopharmacological Management
As we learn about the effect of COVID-19 on patients with bipolar and other psychiatric disorders, clinicians should be prepared to ask questions to uncover new syndromic behaviors.
BIPOLAR UPDATE
Literature is emerging on the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on patients with bipolar disorder. This is part of the much larger literature on assessment and management of mental disorders during the
Our group of 11 clinicians at the US Department of Veterans Affairs Bipolar Disorders Telehealth Program recently
Video sessions and calls generally are very much welcomed by patients who are isolated to various degrees because of COVID-19. Their usual social outlets are diminished, and their access to in-person visits with clinicians is much reduced or eliminated. Hence, contact with an upbeat, thorough, authoritative, and supportive consulting clinician can have a tremendous effect in reassuring patients that help is available. In fact,
Effort must be made, however, to deal effectively with wireless connectivity issues that may render speech garbled with dropped words or pronunciations that are difficult to understand.2 It is important to slow down the conversation, adjust volume or microphone or video placement, be mindful of the time lag that can occur between speech and the transmission of the speech, and avoid interrupting the patient by responding too quickly. Video and phone transmission might make it difficult to determine if the patient is becoming tearful or
Another issue associated with the pandemic is the loss of usual routines of behavior associated with previous mood states before isolation can result in new outlets (eg, buying online instead of in stores during manias). The clinician should be prepared to ask questions to uncover new syndromic behaviors.
Substance use disorders may increase in severity in the isolation setting, and these should be ruled out or managed, if necessary. Patients may be fearful of initiating new medications without an in-person encounter, especially if bloodwork is required or patients have concerns about entering a medical facility for
There are some
Dr Osser is associate professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and co-lead psychiatrist at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, National Telemental Health Center, Bipolar Disorders Telehealth Program, Brockton, Massachusetts.
References
1. Bojdani E, Rajagopalan A, Chen A, et al.
2. Burgess C, Miller CJ, Franz A, Abel EA, et al.
3. Brown WA. The Placebo Effect in Clinical Practice. Oxford University Press; 2013.
4. Hernández-Gómez A, Andrade-González N, Lahera G, Vieta E.
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Ink Stained for Lifeover 4 years ago
Spike in Health Care Cyber Attacksover 4 years ago
Pain and Smoking: Is There an Association?over 4 years ago
The Oneover 4 years ago
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