The Interrelation of Neurological and Psychological Symptoms of COVID-19: Risks and Remedies

Abstract

COVID-19 has catastrophically affected the world's panoramic view of human well-being in terms of healthcare and management. With the increase in the number of cases worldwide, neurological symptoms and psychological illnesses from COVID-19 have increasingly upsurged. Mental health illness and affective disorders, including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, phobia, and panic disorders, are highly impacted due to social distress. The COVID-19 pandemic not only affected people with pre-existing mental and affective illnesses, but also healthy individuals with anxiety, worrying, and panic symptoms, and fear conditioning. In addditon, the novel coronavirus is known to impact the central nervous system in the brain, resulting in severe and certain long-lasting neurological issues. Owing to the significance of neurological and psychological events, the present perspective has been an attempt to disseminate the impact of COVID-19 on neural injury through inflammation, and its interrelation with psychological symptoms. In this current review, we synthesize the literature to highlight the critical associations between SARS-CoV-2 infection and the nervous system, and mental health illness, and discuss potential mechanisms of neural injury through psycho-neuroimmunity.

Keywords: COVID-19; inflammation; mental health; neurological; psychological.

Figure 1

Total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide (25 countries on the list). Total confirmed cases and total deaths based on the countries (A), graphical representation of total recovered active cases, and fatalities based on the top 25 countries (B).

Figure 2

Putative mechanisms underlying neurobiological and psychological events of COVID-19 and their effect on mental health-related issues through psychoneuroimmunity. Virus–host interactions affect viral entry and replication—left panel: viral factor. SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped positive single-stranded R.N.A. coronavirus. Two-thirds of viral R.N.A. is located in the first open reading frame that encodes 16 non-structure proteins. Host factors (right panel) can also influence susceptibility to infection and disease progression. COV2 enters the brain through olfaction, and since the virus is known to cross the blood–brain barrier, it can cause neurological symptoms like Guillain–Barré syndrome and mental health issues, including fear and anxiety for recovery. All these events are regulated by the cytokines and interleukins within the immune system.