<
https://thesicktimes.org/2026/06/12/we-must-free-long-covid-and-the-people-living-with-it-from-the-mind-body-trap/>
"There is a recurring pattern in the history of medicine that still pops up
from time to time. When our understanding of a disease lags far behind the need
for explanations, biology becomes a matter of one’s own perception. This
inevitably shifts the burden of proof back onto the people we should be
helping; those who suffer with the disease.
A recent essay on Long COVID published in
WIRED magazine leans into this
familiar trope, reframing the condition as a matter of unrealistic
expectations. The essay suggested that perhaps Long COVID is less about the
well-documented biological disruptions taking place and more about how the
brain interprets them. That if we can just change the brain’s interpretation,
then we might change the experience and fix the problem.
The premise seems powerful. But it puts the cart before the horse. It’s an
oversimplification that confuses a complex multisystem pathophysiology with
psychogenesis. This essay did a speed-run of one of medicine’s oldest mistakes
within the span of a mere 7,000 words.
Given the ever-increasing number and quality of studies documenting what we
have come to understand about the pathophysiology of Long COVID, it is very
difficult to think Long COVID is principally a disorder of perception. Instead
of a disorder of perception, the existing scientific literature describes a
multi-system disease of bioenergetic failure, immune dysregulation, and
vascular dysfunction.
My words from the
WIRED essay, in this (proper) context:
“People with these conditions [such as Long COVID] get one of two labels in
the popular imagination: they get ‘lazy’ and they get ‘crazy.’”
Unfortunately, the
WIRED essay did nothing to dispel this false dichotomy. It
told the story of Long COVID as a mind-invented illness in need of microdosing
a little optimism. This essay will discuss Long COVID as a failed physiological
struggle to re-establish equilibrium after disruption from the SARS-CoV-2
virus."
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Ebola - Hantavirus - Covid: June 18, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/violetblue/posts/ebola-hantavirus-161406105
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
