The role of psychiatry
In its early, most virulent form, SARS-CoV-2 devastated thousands of people, especially the elderly medically vulnerable. With scientific tools we developed vaccines and treatments and continue to study the dynamics of this virus.
As Andy Miller, MD, chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Hospital for Special Surgery, said when I spoke with him about the virus, because of the way in which viruses mutate, “we must remain aware” of the trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 and “counter irrational beliefs.”
How should psychiatry deal with COVID? As scientists, we seek the truth without bias and politics. Mental illness is our domain. Other specialties have the expertise to treat and even prevent infectious disease. We can assist our doctor colleagues to understand depression, anxiety, PTSD, and cognitive issues when they occur. Our medical mission should be, as always, to treat those who suffer mental illness. Now that extends to the consequences of COVID.
Suggested reading
Camus A. The Plague. New York: Vintage Books,. 1991.
Defoe D. A Journal of the Plague Year. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2001.
Kelly J. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, The Most Devastating Plague of All Time. New York: Harper Perennial, 2005.
Pepys S. The Diary of Samuel Pepys: The Great Plague of London & The Great Fire of London, 1665-1666. Oxford, England: Benediction Classics, 2020.
Emerg Infect Dis. 2005 Mar 11(3):402-96.
Zinsser H. Rats, Lice and History. Boston/Toronto: Little Brown and Co., 1935.
Dr. Cohen is in private practice of psychotherapy and medication management in New York. She has been a consultant at the Hospital for Special Surgery and at New York–Presbyterian, and a forensic psychiatry expert. She changed key facts about Elvira’s case to protect her anonymity.