Long Covid Treated Successfully with Psychophysiologic Symptom Relief Therapy

A PPD approach has been successfully used to treat patients with Long Covid. Twenty-three adults under the age of 60 years with Long Covid symptoms that they described as “High” or “Very High” were enrolled. The median duration of symptoms before joining the study was nine months. Participants received Psychophysiologic Symptom Relief Therapy (a form of Pain Relief Psychotherapy) during a 13-week (approximately 44-hour) course.

 The dramatic decrease in a wide range of symptoms is shown in the graph above. This includes an 80% decrease in shortness of breath, a 67% decrease in brain fog and a 52% decrease in Pain. A majority experienced improvement in the first four weeks of treatment. In addition, before treatment 57% strongly agreed that exercise made their symptoms worse. After 8 weeks only 4% strongly agreed.

There was no control group but the dramatic improvement after nine months of symptoms is strongly suggestive of a contribution to Long Covid from a Psychophysiologic Disorder.

Donnino MW, Howard P, Mehta S et al. (2023). Psychophysiologic symptom relief therapy for Post-Acute Sequelae of Coronavirus Disease 2019. Mayo Clin Proc: Vol 7 (4), 337-348. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2023.05.002