COVID-19 and New-Onset Psychosis: A Comprehensive Review
Lorenzo Moccia, Georgios D. Kotzalidis, Giovanni Bartolucci, Sara Ruggiero, Laura Monti, Marco Biscosi, Beatrice Terenzi, Ottavia Marianna Ferrara, Marianna Mazza, Marco Di Nicola, Delfina Janiri, Alessio Simonetti, Emanuele Caroppo, Luigi Janiri, Gabriele Sani
Abstract
Psychosis is a multifactorial condition that typically involves delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thought, speech or behavior. The observation of an association between infectious epidemics and acute psychosis dates back to the last century. Recently, concerns have been expressed regarding COVID-19 and the risk for the development of new-onset psychosis. This article reviewed the current evidence of a possible link between SARS-CoV-2 and risk of psychosis as an acute or post-infectious manifestation of COVID-19. We here discuss potential neurobiological and environmental factors as well as a number of challenges in ascribing a causal pathogenic relationship between SARS-CoV-2 infection and new-onset psychosis.