COVID-19 quarantine-related psychotic symptoms

Abstract

Introduction: Three cases are presented that are characterised by an acute psychopathological decompensation during the state of alarm in Spain due to the COVID-19 epidemic, as an example of the mental morbidity that can be generated as a result of the confinement and social isolation measures. Case report: Three cases are presented, all of them with a diagnosis of “brief psychotic episode” (F23). In these selected cases, the social restrictions implemented as a result of COVID-19 have played a very relevant role as an external stressor of psychotic symptoms in the patients. The response to antipsychotic treatment was rapid and very favourable. There could be specific psychological vulnerability factors related to the epidemic, which are still being studied today. Conclusions: Our cases are just a sample of the new paradigm that psychiatry is facing, requiring an early and effective approach to the upturn in mental illness that is foreseeable in the coming months.