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Let’s put aside the ways Long COVID has been conflated with anxiety and depression. Long COVID is not a mood disorder. Long COVID is, however, a massive life stressor and a traumatic experience that undoubtedly affects our mental health. As my podcast guest this week explains, tending to our mental health is a critical aspect of our medical journey.
Paige Zuckerman is a certified clinical mental health counselor based in Utah, and has experienced disability and medical loss herself. In our conversation she explains how grief, which she calls “the grandest set of human emotions,” sits alongside our physical symptoms, waiting to be addressed. Evidence suggests that chronic stressors impact our physiology, and most of us intuitively appreciate how emotional resilience improves our wellbeing. These are all reasons to seek reliable mental health support if you have been diagnosed with Long COVID, ideally from a professional trained to assist you.
I whole-heartedly believe that a positive mindset alone will not cure Long COVID. I also believe that processing the emotional trauma I’ve experienced in the past few years helps me identify and tend to my physical needs.
Since falling ill, I have lost many physical abilities that were cornerstones of my identity. Paige identifies this as medical loss, an experience that leads to a type of bereavement.
In the same timespan, I have experienced tender moments of love and gratitude. I have had episodes of clarity that seem to be the culmination of my entire life experience. In these moments my perception of the world shifts, and I feel like I better understand the world and my place in it. I can only call it wisdom. As Paige explains, I am not alone in this phenomenon. We all have the potential for this post-traumatic growth.
Paige also introduces a concept called allostatic load, which reflects the biological impact of chronic stress.
All of these terms can be and have been co-opted and generalized, often by people without psychology training and who are not licensed mental health professionals. Tread carefully online. Remember, you are not sick simply because you manage stress poorly. It’s also perfectly normal to find no silver linings in this disease process. A trained and licensed therapist is part of my healthcare team precisely because these issues are complex and nuanced. Ideally we all have access to this valuable resource.
Listen to our episode of the “Long Covid, MD” podcast and tell me, who carries your lantern today? Who would help you by carrying it?
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