It is well established that a fight with COVID It can seriously affect your mental health: The virus has been linked to both the development of new psychiatric conditions, such as depression, and the exacerbation of any existing conditions you may have. But now, for the first time, a massive new study of 18 million people in the UK has looked at whether getting vaccinated can affect how much the virus ultimately affects your emotions — and the results may have you rolling up your sleeves if you haven’t already.
In the study, published August 21 in the journal JAMA PsychiatryResearchers at the University of Bristol analyzed the health records of three different groups of people: one before vaccines were available, and then two more (vaccinated versus unvaccinated) after the vaccines were rolled out. The researchers then compared mental illness diagnoses in people before and after they tested positive for COVID.
People who contracted SARS-CoV-2, regardless of vaccination status, were found to be more likely to experience or be diagnosed with mental health issues, including depressionanxiety, PTSD, eating disorders, addiction, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, self-harm and suicide — within one month of testing positive for the virus, compared to the period immediately before diagnosis.
People who were hospitalized were even more likely to experience any of these issues, but especially depression. For example, people with a milder case of COVID were 1.2 times more likely to experience depression after infection, compared with people who were hospitalized, who were about 16 times more likely. (Venexia Walker, PhD, the study’s lead author, tells SELF that this association was stronger in people who had mental health issues.) before they tested positive for COVID.)
Unvaccinated people bore the brunt of this, the study found, and tended to be more likely to have mental health problems. and deal with them for up to a year after getting sick, according to the report. However, COVID is still serious and concerning regardless of your vaccination status, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for signs that an infection is messing with your or a loved one’s mental well-being — and then seeking help and guidance from a medical professional, such as a primary care physician or therapist, if needed.
Why is COVID affecting our emotional health so much? It’s still not 100 percent clear. One theory is that COVID causes inflammation in the brain and body, which triggers the release of chemicals linked to anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. Getting sick and feeling worried about things like hefty medical bills, missed days of work, and Long COVID It can also stress a person out and cause or worsen mental health problems. People with mental health disorders also tend to have other conditions that can increase their risk of severe COVID, such as heart disease, asthma, or type 2 diabetes. More generally, it’s also possible that the isolation and lack of physical activity that tends to happen when dealing with an infection can lead to higher levels of depression or other unusual moods, Dr. Philip Chan, MSinfectious disease specialist at Brown University, tells SELF.