Some COVID-19 Survivors Face Another Foe: PTSD

 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.