Treatment of Catatonia in a Young Adult with COVID-19 Infection; Case Report and Review of the Literature on Electroconvulsive Therapy During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose

Infection with COVID-19 has presented diversely in patients, including neuropsychiatric symptoms such as akinetic mutism. Most of these cases involve patients of middle-to-late age or with other health comorbidities. This is a unique case of a long hospitalization for severe catatonic symptoms in a patient with covid-19 infection in which ultimately, ECT helped produce rapid improvements in catatonia. Access to prompt ECT has been limited during the ongoing pandemic, and this case illustrates the importance of managing contamination risk and maintaining access to psychiatric treatment resources.