06/21/2022

Why So Many Long COVID Patients Are Having Suicidal Thoughts

Long COVID often looks nothing like acute COVID-19

Last year, Diana Berrent—the founder of Survivor Corps, a long COVID support group—asked the group’s members if they’d ever had thoughts of suicide since developing Long COVID. About 18 percent of people who responded said they had, a number much higher than the 4 percent of the general U.S. adult population that has experienced recent suicidal thoughts.

A few weeks ago, Berrent posed the same question to current members of her group. This time, of the nearly 200 people who responded, 45 percent said they’d contemplated suicide.

While her poll was small and informal, the results point to a serious problem. “People are suffering in a way that I don’t think the general public understands,” Berrent said. “Not only are people mourning the life that they thought they were going to have, they are in excruciating pain with no answers.”

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.