Alex Manuel
Photo Illustration by Alex Manuel
While many try to move past the events of the pandemic, some patients with Long COVID are suffering from mental health issues after dealing with symptoms from the disease for an extended period of time.
Long COVID has affected more than just the physical health of its patients since its outbreak in 2020. The impact on mental health that Long COVID has on patients has been tracked by providers in the UNC Health system since the disease was recognized. For students, the effects can be even more strenuous, manifesting in mental health as they navigate classes and social life. Symptoms include fatigue, loss of smell or taste and brain fog, but are not limited to that.
Dr. John Baratta, the associate professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the UNC School of Medicine, said Long COVID is often acquired when people are infected multiple times.
“It does seem that any COVID illness could trigger a bout of Long COVID for an individual,” Baratta said. “So, the greater the number of times that the person has acute COVID, the higher the risk for developing long COVID.”
Baratta said that since the symptoms a patient experiences can be so broad, exact definitions for the disease are difficult. Still, he adheres to the same definition adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as outlined in the 2024 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine consensus statement.
“It basically suggests that a person who has new health issues for at least three months after a COVID illness can meet the diagnosis for Long COVID,” Baratta said. “That can include new diagnosable medical conditions or syndromes, or it can also just include symptoms like fatigue or brain fog that might not be a clearly diagnosable condition, but could impact the person nonetheless.”
Jacob Christiansen, a third-year studying computer engineering, said having brain fog was one of the main symptoms that persisted for him, as well as a loss of sense of smell.
“I eventually recovered and came through and such, and felt a little brain fog,” Christiansen said, referencing when he first contracted COVID in 2021. “I just assumed it’s just recovering from sickness and whatnot, but that brain fog is still kind of persistent.”
Researchers have found a strong link between Long COVID and mental health issues. Baratta said his own clinic’s data showed two-thirds of patients struggle with mental health issues, whether preexisting or created by adjustments to living with a long-term disease.
“For some patients, this may be a preexisting condition that they were struggling with prior to the COVID illness, sometimes it was well controlled, sometimes it was not,” Baratta said. “I have seen COVID, for example, trigger or flare someone’s mental health concerns in the setting that they were previously well controlled.”
Adjusting to living with long-term symptoms can lead to feelings of depression over time. Christiansen described how his symptoms led to depression after dealing with them for so long.
“Definitely the brain fog and just lack of smell is really toned into depression and then just made just like motivation, just really impossible,” Christiansen said. “Just kind of feeling blue all the time.”
Christiansen said he thought that his time at NC State would’ve gone differently, if not easier, had he not been dealing with the long-term illness. Being a student in college has its own mental health challenges, and suffering from symptoms of long-term illness could only add to those challenges for students.
“Of course, you know, NC State’s pretty difficult, just in general, any college environment, really. But I feel like I could be more successful had I not had COVID,” Christiansen said.
While the effects of the long-term disease can be diverse and severe, many people suffering may not realize that the symptoms they feel stem from a bout of Long COVID. Since symptoms persist for so long, they can go unnoticed unless a patient makes the connection to the initial illness.
“I think there are many people who are walking around with Long COVID who are undiagnosed at this time and may not recognize that their symptoms might be secondary to persisting effects from the viral process,” Baratta said.