ABSTRACT
Introduction: On January 2021 the Department of Psychiatry became the only unit exclusively dedicated to COVID patients with severe mental illness in acute decompensation. Only patients in risk of rapid medical deterioration were excluded and forwarded to intensive care. Objective(s): Discussion of this unprecedented experience. Method(s): Analysis of 28 patients hospitalized during 3 months with both an acute psychiatric disorder and an SARS-CoV-2 infection;description of the multidisciplinary intervention made. Result(s): Our samplewas characterized by a majority of patients with an acute psychotic episode derived from a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (42%) or a bipolar affective disorder (21%). Only 3% of the patients had a diagnosis of severe major depressive disorder. And 10% of patients developed severe respiratory symptoms requiring oxygen or urgent transfer to COVID medical wards. Most patients presented periods of psychomotor agitation, lack of impulse control and self-aggression. Psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions had to be adapted to these unusual conditions. Most of them had already gone through a period of isolation in the buffer ward created to exclude false negatives, which promoted atypical deliriums and symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The psychiatric team was faced with the emergent need to adapt an intervention model based on trust to a model that had to prioritize physical safety. Conclusion(s): The pandemic experience was transformative forall who lived through it. From the challenge perspective, it may have been enriching. But the maintained confrontation with the antithesis of therapy, defined by "caring, supporting, communicating, approaching", was devastating in ways that we consider essential to be debated.
ABSTRACT
IntroductionIn late 2019, an epidemic outbreak emerges in China caused by a new coronavirus with high transmission and human infection potential which in March 2020, was characterized by WHO as a pandemic. The lockdown has repercussions on the population’s well-being, reflected in their food choices. There is a tendency to increase the consumption of energy dense food, rich in fat and carbohydrates, which are related to an increased risk of depression.ObjectivesThe main goal of this non-systematic literature review was to understand the impact of the Mediterranean Diet on Mental Health promotion in SARSCoV-2 pandemic.MethodsLiterature from Pubmed database were searched, with the following keywords: COVID-19, Depression, Anxiety, Mental Health and Mediterranean Diet.ResultsStudies indicate that a diet based on the Mediterranean Diet is associated with a decreased risk of developing depressive symptoms, especially when there is moderate to high adherence to this dietary pattern. High consumption of plant and fish foods, reduced consumption of sugary products, processed and red meats and the use of olive oil as a fat source, are principles of the Mediterranean diet, associated with an improvement in endothelial function, increased levels of eicosanoids and serotonin synthesis and regulation of serotonin which seem to explain this protective effect.ConclusionsIn addition to decreasing the risk of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, comorbidities associated with the most serious disease of COVID-19, the Mediterranean Diet seems to play an important role in promoting mental health, with a decreased risk of developing depressive symptoms.DisclosureNo significant relationships.