From MedicineNet, May 3, 2020
The tragic death by suicide this week of an emergency department physician who had been caring for COVID-19 patients in New York City underscores the huge psychological impact of the pandemic -- which will linger long after the virus is gone, experts say.
"For frontline responders, the trauma of witnessing so much illness and death will have lasting effects for many," Bruce Schwartz, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), said during the opening session of the virtual APA Spring Highlights Meeting 2020, which is replacing the organization's canceled annual meeting.
"We will need the full workforce to cope with the psychiatric effects" of the pandemic, added Schwartz, who is also deputy chairman and professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City.
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