Caroline Hulbert 3.15.21
AP Bio C Even Current Event 16
Sanders, Laura. “Some COVID-19 Survivors Face Another Foe: PTSD.” Science News, 12 Mar. 2021, www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-survivors-ptsd- mental-health.
For this current event, I decided to review Laura Sanders’ article, “Some COVID-19 Survivors Face Another Foe: PTSD.” The author begins her review with a description of what COVID-19 patients have endured since the start of the pandemic last year. She describes patients struggling to breathe and “facing a disease new to science” while isolated from their loved ones. According to a small study in Italy, nearly a third of people with severe cases of COVID-19 have developed post-traumatic stress disorder after infection. The study was performed by psychiatrist Delfina Janiri of Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic in Rome and her colleagues. Patients with a history of psychiatric disorders and those who suffered from delusions while battling the disease were the most susceptible to PTSD. This rate is comparable to that of survivors of other disasters, like SARS and Hurricane Katrina.
This article is extremely relevant to society as the COVID-19 pandemic passes the one year mark of its start. The virus has killed millions around the world, but it has also left survivors, and this study indicates that its impact is not limited to physical symptoms. The article highlights the importance of focusing on mental health in survivors of COVID-19, and continuing research on their mental health, as the study discussed in the article took place in Italy.
This article was very well-written and informative about current issues. The author included opening details that hook the reader in and display the conditions COVID-19 patients find themselves in. She also sourced the study and specific information from it to support her points. I thought that the author could have included more information in the article as it was quite short. It would have been interesting to hear more about the science behind why survivors are experiencing PTSD and whether similar studies are taking place in the US. This would have made it more relevant to readers outside of Italy and provided readers with more information about the study, including whether it is a cause for concern.
Julia Reich
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology C Even
3/24/21
Sanders, Laura. “Some COVID-19 Survivors Face Another Foe: PTSD.” Science News, 12 Mar.
2021, www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-survivors-ptsd-mental-health.
Link to blog: https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/
Caroline’s review covered the article “Some COVID-19 Survivors Face Another Foe: PTSD.” Her review. was well written and interesting. One aspect she did well was including information from a small study done in Italy. Caroline included that, “The study was performed by psychiatrist Delfina Janiri of Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic in Rome and her colleagues.” This establishes a sense of reliability within Caroline’s article, which is favorable. A second aspect she did well was writing clearly and concisely. I didn’t know a lot about the topic, but was able to completely understand what she wrote. A third aspect she did well was including her own opinion at the end of her review. For example, she writes “I thought that the author could have included more information in the article as it was quite short. It would have been interesting to hear more about the science behind why survivors are experiencing PTSD and whether similar studies are taking place in the US.” I have not read Caroline’s article, but I now know what it is missing, and if I’m curious, I could go and look for more information on these certain topics. Overall, Caroline’s article was super interesting and I hope to learn more about the subject in the future.
Though her article was superb, there are two aspects she could improve on. The first being that she could elaborate more on topics her author did not write about in her article. Caroline could easily do this by finding another article that goes deeper into the correlation between PTSD and Covid. This would make Caroline’s review much longer and also far more interesting. A second aspect she could work on is defining a few scientific terms, such as PTSD. Many know the disorder as something that results from a traumatic situation, like maybe a fire or crash. A lot of people, including myself, don’t know exactly how PTSD works (what happens in the brain). Caroline’s article would become more appealing if she were to add this factor. Overall, however, her article made for a great read.
I chose Caroline’s article because Covid-19 is still a great risk for all people on the earth, and PTSD is a disorder that is not easily treated or managed. I wanted to learn more about the side effects of Covid and the correlation between the disorder and the disease. This new study is just another reminder to stay socially distant and wear masks at all times until herd immunity is achieved. Caroline’s article helped me to understand this.
Angelinna Faisca 3/25/21
ReplyDeleteSanders, Laura. “Some COVID-19 Survivors Face Another Foe: PTSD.” Science News, 12 Mar. 2021, www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-survivors-ptsd- mental-health.
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com
Carolines’ review of Laura Sanders’s article was simple and easy to understand, one of the good qualities that she conveys in her review. Of all the events that have taken place throughout this past year, mental illnesses have been on the rise. Due to social distancing, isolation and quarantining has become the culprit of the ailments in our minds. Caroline does a good job in speaking of the causes of PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A disorder that is caused by traumatic events in the past. What is the most interesting of this, was a finding that almost a third of people that had severe cases of Covid-19, later developed cases of PTSD, that could be compared to those survivors of other diseases and natural disasters such as hurricane Katrina.
I liked Caroline’s review and thought that she did a good job in keeping it short, and I just think that she highlighted everything that needed to be said and highlighted. However she could maybe have talked about the aspects of the correlation between Covid-19 and PTSD, including details from internet research may have strengthened her review, overall it was a great deal of information.
Overall, learning about this helps with understanding the effects that Covid-19 has on people even after they survive it, and what this virus can really do to someone overall, even including long lasting effects such as a mental illness, on a normal person.