In October 2022, I finally received an answer I’d been seeking for years: Lyme disease. For nearly a decade, I lived with joint pain, rashes and hives, vertigo, neuropathy, fatigue, headaches, brain fog, and shifting vision problems alongside worsening anxiety. I was misdiagnosed more than once, and the longer it went on, the more my suffering was minimized. Two wonderful nurse practitioners at TRWC helped me step back, connect the dots, and look for a root cause.
That moment changed everything. I began a year-long treatment plan that included intensive antibiotics, detoxification protocols, and herbal and nutritional support. But what I want to spotlight, especially as a mental health therapist, is how profoundly Lyme and other tick-borne infections can affect the brain, mood, and behavior.
In the U.S., an estimated 476,000 people may be diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease each year. If even a fraction of those people are being told “it’s just anxiety,” we have a serious blind spot.
The Illinois Lyme Association emphasizes that while Lyme is often associated with arthritis and neurologic complications, it can also drive significant mental health symptoms: anxiety, depression, mood disorders, sleep problems, brain fog, rage, and suicidal thoughts. Large population research has found higher rates of mental disorders and suicidal behavior after a hospital diagnosis of Lyme, particularly in the first year after infection.
How can an infection impact mental health? Borrelia burgdorferi (the bacteria that causes Lyme disease) can trigger inflammation and disrupt the nervous system. Neurologic involvement, often called Lyme neuroborreliosis, occurs in a subset of cases; many reviews estimate roughly 10–15%. When the nervous system is affected, symptoms can include cognitive slowing, “brain fog,” memory and concentration issues, sleep disturbance, neuropathic pain, and mood changes.
Co-infections can add another layer. While symptoms overlap, patterns clinicians often watch for include:
- Bartonella: new-onset agitation, panic-like episodes, and treatment-resistant depression; many patients also report irritability or “rage.”
- Babesia: profound fatigue and sweats are classic; severe cases can include confusion/altered mental status, and the shortness of breath/palpitations some people experience can feel like anxiety.
- Ehrlichia/Anaplasma: flu-like illness may include headache and, in severe cases, confusion.
Why this matters: when mental health symptoms are viewed in isolation, people can be dismissed or treated for the wrong thing. We can hold both truths at once: mental health symptoms are real and deserving of care, and sometimes they are also a clue to an underlying medical condition.
If you’re struggling, you deserve to be taken seriously. Ask about tick exposure, advocate for appropriate evaluation, and build a team that includes both medical and mental health support. And if you’re having suicidal thoughts, please call or text 988 or your local emergency number right now. For mental health support in our local area, please reach out to Two Roads Wellness Clinic in Danville, Champaign, or Mahomet Illinois or Covington, Indiana.
