HHS Urges Primary Care Clinicians to Help Patients Manage Long COVID’s Mental Health Symptoms

Andy

Andy

Retired committee member
"COVID-19 may no longer be considered a public health emergency, but post–COVID-19 condition—also known as long COVID—remains a hurdle, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), HHS issued a new advisory to help primary care clinicians identify and manage mental health symptoms associated with long COVID, which it defines as health issues that develop or persist for 4 or more weeks after an initial COVID-19 infection. The advisory discusses the epidemiology of symptoms such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, and cognitive impairment and provides resources for clinicians to assess and treat these issues."

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2807892
 
Now we have a government agency explicitly telling clinicians this:
If a clinician communicates, even unintentionally, that they perceive symptoms to be exaggerated or psychosomatic, patients may feel a sense of shame and embarrassment and feel discouraged from seeking ongoing medical treatment.
Click to expand...

Unless healthcare changes, I don't know how useful their guidance will be for people with long Covid. I refuse to discuss mental health with all of my doctors. I openly tell them that it's because doctors have used it against me to gaslight me in the past.
 
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Putting fatigue under mental health is so ridiculous.

It's fine to help people suffering, but without addressing the causes this is worse than useless, because the suffering is considered to be its own cause.

I also would refuse to discuss anything related to mental health, if I hadn't completely stopped trying to get any medical care. Fortunately I have no unrelated needs and hope that this holds up because I will never, ever, discuss mental health with a medical professional for the rest of my life.

AI medics, though? Yeah. Not humans. Humans are judgmental jerks way too often.
 
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