A Review of the Mental Health Sequelae of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): Preparedness Perspective.

Despite the three significant epidemics that have rattled the world in the last two decades, many questions remain unanswered! The concept of unwanted psychological distress remains looming after any epidemic or pandemic. The public health burden of the COVID-19 pandemic still resonates with different aspects of life with predicted mental health sequelae. This review will focus on the role of natural disasters and past infectious epidemic-related mental health complications. Additionally, the study provides recommendations and policy suggestions for mitigating COVID-19-related mental health prevalence.

Poorly Managed Stressors Contributing to an Affective Disorder in a High-Performance Athlete: A Case Report.

Recently, there has been an increase in awareness about mental illness, especially among professional athletes. This has brought to focus the important roles that sports psychiatrists and other allied health professionals play in professional sports. It has also exposed the limitations of sports psychiatry, especially the shortage of sports psychiatrists. Professional athletes are subjected to multiple stressors during their careers, resulting in significant mental health outcomes. If not adequately addressed, stress can cause performance slumps and poorer outcomes, which in turn exacerbates stress in a vicious cycle. We present the case of a former male athlete with multiple physical, somatic, and psychosocial stressors that predisposed him to develop mental illness. This case highlights the potential consequences of a lack of early recognition and management of physical and psychosocial stressors in athletes, which can contribute to psychological illness and potentially lead to adverse medical outcomes such as repeat hospitalization and homelessness.

A new experiment on the use of images to answer web survey questions.

Images might provide richer and more objective information than text answers to open-ended survey questions. Little is known, nonetheless, about the consequences for data quality of asking participants to answer open-ended questions with images. Therefore, this paper addresses three research questions: (1) What is the effect of answering web survey questions with images instead of text on breakoff, noncompliance with the task, completion time and question evaluation? (2) What is the effect of including a motivational message on these four aspects? (3) Does the impact of asking to answer with images instead of text vary across device types? To answer these questions, we implemented a 2 × 3 between-subject web survey experiment (N = 3043) in Germany. Half of the sample was required to answer using PCs and the other half with smartphones. Within each device group, respondents were randomly assigned to (1) a control group answering open-ended questions with text; (2) a treatment group answering open-ended questions with images; and (3) another treatment group answering open-ended questions with images but prompted with a motivational message. Results show that asking participants to answer with images significantly increases participants' likelihood of noncompliance as well as their completion times, while worsening their overall survey experience. Including motivational messages, moreover, moderately reduces the likelihood of noncompliance. Finally, the likelihood of noncompliance is similar across devices.

Accessibility of Treatment Among Women With Opioid Use Disorder: A Brief Review.

Opioid-use disorder (OUD) has become a social pandemic with a rising incidence and prevalence among women. Notably, women with OUD were more likely to have psychiatric comorbidities like major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and bipolar disorder. Evidence suggests that opioid exposure and subsequent disease among women compared to men is unique and attributable to hormonal estrogen levels. However, there remains a dearth of literature on their ability to access treatment when needed. There is also a gap in the perceived access to women as compared to men. Hence, our review will focus on factors that may affect women from seeking OUD treatment as compared to men.

Pseudobulbar Affect Mimicking Depression: A Case Report.

Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is a neurological condition that is associated with short periods of involuntary, sudden, and inappropriate emotions such as crying or laughing, which are mood incongruent. An accurate estimate of the prevalence of PBA is hard to obtain due to varying diagnostic criteria and variable patient populations. The cause of PBA is not known, but current evidence suggests dual etiology. A neural circuit dysfunction and an abnormality of neurotransmitters that regulate motor expression of emotions. PBA can easily be mistaken for a depressive disorder due to the overlap of symptoms. Moreover, patients with PBA may have a major depressive disorder (MDD) or other depressive disorders. Therefore, it is essential to recognize and treat PBA as well as possible psychiatric comorbidities. We present a case report of a 59-year-old man with no past psychiatric history who presents with paroxysms of episodes of crying for the past one year. He endorsed feelings of hopelessness and poor concentration. MRI of the brain revealed bilateral basal ganglia and a thalamic infarct. The patient was treated with citalopram. This case describes a unique presentation of pseudobulbar affect mimicking depression.

Use of Bupropion in the Management of Negative Symptom Schizophrenia: A Case Series.

Antipsychotic treatment has been documented as the mainstay for the management of schizophrenia. Evidence in literature has suggested that the management of negative symptoms of schizophrenia continues to be a treatment challenge. Therefore, residual negative symptoms can become more pervasive and visible after the treatment of positive symptoms, leading to an impaired marked deficit in the vital daily functions of patients. We present a case series of three patients with a past psychiatric history of schizophrenia who presented to the psychiatric emergency with acute symptoms of schizophrenia. Following antipsychotic treatment, all these patients showed improvement of positive symptoms, however, profound negative symptoms of schizophrenia became visible. The negative symptoms include anhedonia, amotivation, alogia, affective flattening, and passive social withdrawal. We added bupropion to manage the negative symptoms, and all three patients achieved a good treatment response. This case series suggests that the anti-depressive effects of bupropion might be a valuable treatment option in the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Alopecia caused by isoniazid.

Drug-induced alopecia is a known clinical entity and mainly seen with anti-mitotic drug therapy. Alopecia during anti-tuberculosis therapy is very uncommon and previously observed with isoniazid, thiacetazone, and ethionamide. Present communication describes an additional case of isoniazid-induced alopecia in a 10-year-old male child, which was reversible after isoniazid withdrawal. Possible mechanisms of drug-induced alopecia are also briefly discussed.