COVID-19 can lead to PTSD

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - When a person is hospitalized with COVID-19, the focus is on the patient.

But it’s also hard, and scary, for family members. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that those left at home have a high rate of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

Their research involved 500 family members of people being treated in the ICU for acute respiratory distress syndrome, half caused by COVID, and half due to other causes.

In the COVID cases, they say even after the patient was discharged, the family members had a high rate of PTSD several months later, along with a higher incidence of anxiety and depression.

They believe it was prompted not only by the illness but by their inability to be with their loved ones as they suffered.

The conclusion was that family members themselves may require follow-up care.