**People living with Long Covid often feel dismissed, disbelieved and unsupported by their healthcare providers, according to a new study from the University of Surrey.**
S. Petker and J. Ogden, University of Surrey.
* This research was based on semi-structured interviews with 14 people in the UK with Long Covid.
* Thematic analysis of the interviews resulted in three main themes:
* ‘Living in uncertainty’:
* Fear of the Covid-19 pandemic, of the unknown cause of Covid-19, and of a future with Long Covid
* Lack of treatment options for people with Long Covid
* Ambiguous identity: a sense of identity change and loss of self post-covid
* ‘Why should I trust you if you don’t believe me?’:
* Broken trust with medical professionals
* Isolation from social network due to their Long Covid illness being disbelieved and poorly understood by employers, friends and family members
* Broken trust with body due to the unpredictability of symptoms and lack of control over their impact
* ‘Once I know the cause people will believe me’:
* Self-education through research
* Medical focus on aetiology and the need to prove illness
* Initial rejection of psychology's role in Long Covid
In summary, the present qualitative study aimed to explore how patient with Long Covid experience their condition and their attitudes towards psychology.
The analysis described three themes relating to uncertainty, trust and the need to be believed which were transcended by a tension between professional experts and experts by lived experience and a consequent dichotomy between the psychological and medical explanations of Long Covid.
For some patients, this tenson could be resolved, however, by accepting a synthesis of the biological and psychological components of Long Covid and acknowledging that whilst the search for a biological cause can continue, psychology may have a role to play in the management of their daily lives.
**Accordingly, if health professionals want to effectively support patients with Long Covid, they need to make sure they feel believed and offer psychology as an adjunct rather than a substitute for medical support, as a means to move on from the outdated and harmful narrative of it being ‘all in the mind’.**
> _We found that our participants are living a life of constant uncertainty, struggling to find treatment. People told us that they didn't feel listened to, some said they'd lost trust in doctors, their social circles and even their own bodies because of the whole experience._
> _Medical advice is crucial – but psychological support must be offered with care. If it’s seen as replacing medical help, it can feel dismissive._
>
> Saara Petker, clinical psychologist and co-author of the study
[](https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/study-finds-long-covid-patients-feel-pressure-prove-their-illness-real)