You’ve been cleared by your doctor for Covid-19 but are still feeling far from yourself physically and emotionally. Your colleagues and friends don’t understand how debilitating the brain fog and sleepless nights have been for you, and your work and relationships have started to become affected.

Almost everyone has felt added stress from the pandemic, but the burden is particularly heavy for those battling Covid symptoms that just won’t seem to go away after the initial period of illness. This phenomenon is known as long Covid. Some experience mild long Covid effects, but the symptoms of others are so severe that they directly impact their ability to navigate daily life as they did before.

Mental health is innately tied with physical health. This means that the symptoms of long Covid are not only caused by the virus but also from the trauma associated with being ill and not knowing when normal life will return. Navigating a long-term illness that could redefine one’s career, relationships, and family life takes a negative toll on mental well-being.

When looking at prominent long Covid symptoms, such as fatigue and breathlessness, it’s possible to see how the common symptoms of both Covid and prominent mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, can overlap and intertwine.

Fortunately, there is a path toward healing the mind and body from long Covid. This path must not only involve life-saving treatments but also the types of treatments that can make those lives full again. Understanding the connection between physical and mental health is critical to seeing progress. When recovery is viewed from a holistic perspective that encompasses mental health, then long Covid patients can begin to thrive again.

If there is a silver lining surrounding long Covid, it may be increased awareness of the need for all treatment plans to target not only specific symptoms but the entire body as a whole, including mental health, and to include extended support over time for patients and their families both during and following an illness.

D2 Counseling has a team of counselors trained in a variety of specialties, including methods that can alleviate the psychological symptoms of Covid. Whether the focus is anxiety management strategies, cognitive processing therapy to change your perspective of traumatic events, somatic experiencing therapy to release trauma from the body, or a combination of several, there is a path toward healing for you. Today can be the start of that journey.