Postcognitive psychoses. A clinical case of psychosis after COVID-19

Bulgarian Medical Journal, 2023, 17(3), 64-69.

Y. Marinova, M. Dimitrova

Psychiatry Clinic, Military Medical Academy – Sofia

Abstract. COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most significant infectious diseases of our time. Clinical complications following the acute infection are described by the term post-COVID-19 syndrome. The neuropsychiatric manifestations related to the virus are various and the psychoses in the course of the post-COVID-19 syndrome as a part of them are an interesting phenomenon. The article presents a brief overview of psychotic symptomatology after COVID-19 and a case of a patient with such psychopathology after COVID-19. Eighteen days after the first symptoms of the viral infection, he developed acute schizophreniform psychosis. The results of the performed paraclinical and imaging examinations are presented. A number of infectious agents have been examined and excluded. The diagnostic and treatment algorithm are described and various hypotheses about the genesis of the condition are discussed. Cases like this could represent a base for development of standardized and scientifically approved therapeutic approaches for the treatment of psychotic episodes in the course of the post-COVID-19 syndrome in order to improve the clinical outcome and prognosis of these conditions.

Key words: COVID-19, psychosis, schizophrenia, post-COVID syndrome

Address for correspondence: Yoanna Marinova, tel.: + 359 888056350, e-mail: joanna.marinova@icloud.com