Many Long Covid patients are offered a referral to psychological services to help treat their illness.  Without careful explanation, this can be perceived as suggesting that Long Covid is in our heads.

“It’s not in your head”, explains Amiad Abrahams, a Health Psychologist, the Deputy Lead for North West London's Long Covid Psychology service.

Abrahams works at the crux of bio-psycho-social.  He draws on his extensive experience using psychology and mindfulness to support sufferers of acute and chronic illness, to gain understanding our bodies, emotions, brains and context. These all come together to shape our illness and the way in which we experience it.

We cannot separate our minds and our bodies, and Long Covid has caused residual trauma to our minds in the same way that we have residual physical symptoms.  In this week’s episode Abrahams talks us through the power that the mind has over the body and the impact that the body, specifically chronic physical illness, has on the mind.  He uses mindfulness to help sufferers understand and accept the situation to help them on the path towards healing.

His aim is to “de-psychologise Long Covid, whilst psychologising life itself” and, with his calming tone, wise words and this extensive list of resources, we hope that this provides you with some implementable food for thought.