Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Incidence of Patients with FND Seen in a Neurological Emergency Department, 2022, Janssen-Aguilar et al

Full title: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Incidence of Patients with Functional Neurological Disorder Seen in a Neurological Emergency Department

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a global stressor.1 It is well documented that higher levels of anxiety and depression in patients with functional neurological disorder (FND) are related to aggravation of symptoms, relapse of previous symptoms, and de novo appearance of symptoms in some cases.1–3 Also, FND patients had an altered emotional processing, which is associated with symptom severity, poorer outcomes, diminished quality of life, reduced resilience and poorer prognosis.4

The objective of the present study is to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demand of emergency care (EC) for FND in a tertiary neurology hospital in Mexico during the lockdown, in comparison to care provided in the previous two years

Open access, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pcn.13459

 

"The lockdown".

Mexico never did anything close to what could be called a lockdown. Very few places did and that stopped over a year ago, the continued attempts to blame lockdowns-that-barely-happened-and-are-over-anyway have become increasingly pathetic given they are long over. There was a brief period of about 2 months with some measures in Mexico, it would compare to calling something "the lockdown" like saying having to stay at home for a day is basically prison. Ridiculous.

As usual with anything biopsychosocial, it's the perspective of physicians in their immediate work environment that is discussed. Most people were barely aware of what's going on. Physicians saw a very busy period with lots of illness and death, healthcare systems barely able to cope and having to make hard decisions. The rest of the population never saw that, the main stress they were experiencing was financial if their income was affected. They are merely projecting their own stress onto other people who are not experiencing the same thing.