Coronavirus disease-19 pandemic-induced panic disorder

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 is a newly emerging infectious disease which is found to be caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-2. COVID-19 pandemic has spread worldwide causing a rapidly increasing number of mental disorders cases, primarily anxiety disorder. Since majority of panic disorder patients are present with great anxiety in response to their physical or respiratory symptoms, support and encouragement from psychiatrist or therapist are fundamental to alleviate the severity of the symptoms. CASE REPORT: We reported a case of COVID-19-induced panic disorder in a woman, 52 years old, Batak tribe who started to experience multiple panic attacks since one of her family members was confirmed to be COVID-10 positive. CONCLUSION: In general, panic disorder is a common diagnosis, but this case appeared to be interesting as it is induced by COVID-19 pandemic. As in this case, the individual who experienced multiple panic attack is not even a COVID-19 patient but has one of her family member affected by the virus. A wide body of evidence has shown that this pandemic massively contributes to worsening of psychosocial burden in nationwide.