Long COVID guidance aims to help doctors identify mental health symptoms

As doctors and millions of Americans continue to seek answers about long COVID, a new advisory from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) gives physicians more tools to identify mental health symptoms as some of the condition’s many side effects.

The PBS NewsHour's digital anchor Nicole Ellis spoke to two health experts on the latest guidance, including Molly Sanborn, a public health analyst at SAMHSA, and Dr. Serena Spudich, a neurologist at Yale School of Medicine.

The new guidelines, released in June, were developed by tracking symptoms like “fatigue, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, psychosis, cognitive impairments, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, just to name a few,” Sanborn said.

There are at least 72 ongoing studies looking into long COVID, Spudich said, but more research — and more funding for that research — is necessary.

"A lot of patients have been experiencing things that they didn't understand — and a lot of times, our providers didn't understand. So, I think these guidelines are very helpful because they sort of validate and create categories for these conditions, and then they provide some kinds of guidance about how to manage them," Spudich said.

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