“Have you considered that it could be burnout?”—psychologization and stigmatization of (...) long COVID or post-COVID-19 vaccination syndrome, 2025,

[Wyva]

Full title: “Have you considered that it could be burnout?”—psychologization and stigmatization of self-reported long COVID or post-COVID-19 vaccination syndrome

Ronja Büchner, Christian Sander, Stephanie Schindler, Martin Walter, Carmen Scheibenbogen & Georg Schomerus

Abstract​

Background​

People reporting long COVID (LC) or post-COVID-19 vaccination syndrome (PCVS) not only suffer from their symptoms but also from stigmatization. Despite ample account and characterization of stigma experiences so far, its mechanisms and consequences on health outcomes, and particularly the role of “psychologization” remain unclear.

Methods​

In a cross-sectional observational study, we examined a large convenience sample of adults who report having LC or PCVS. We translated and adapted the “Long Covid Stigma Scale” to measure stigmatization. We measured generally perceived and personally experienced psychologization with newly developed scales/items. Outcome measures included disclosure concerns, loss of trust in medicine, life satisfaction, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and loneliness. We calculated overall prevalences of stigma and psychologization and their correlations with the outcomes. Using mediation analysis with SEM, we tested the hypothesis that psychologization of LC and PCVS syndromes causes harm by increasing stigmatization.

Results​

Altogether, N = 2053 individuals (68% reporting LC, 32% reporting PCVS) were included in the analyses. The overall prevalences of stigma experiences were high: 83% of those reporting LC and 90% of those reporting PCVS experienced stigma. Prevalences of perceived psychologization (LC: 87%, PCVS: 91%) and experienced psychologization (LC: 82%, PCVS: 87%) were similarly high. Both stigmatization and psychologization were positively correlated with disclosure concerns, loss of trust in medicine, depression, anxiety, and loneliness as well as negatively correlated with life satisfaction and self-esteem. Mediation analysis indicated that stigmatization mediated a relevant proportion of the relationship between psychologization and negative outcomes.

Conclusions​

People reporting LC or PCVS are subject to stigmatization and psychologization. From a patient perspective, psychologization appears to be an important driver of stigmatization and negative outcomes.

Open access: https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-025-04335-0

 

[Wyva]

Paper suggested by @Yann04

 

[BrightCandle]

A large majority (total: 92%) of those respondents who reported experiences of psychologization on at least some occasions attributed these to doctors and medical-therapeutic professionals (LC: 90% and PCVS: 96%). Experiences of psychologization were also oftentimes caused by friends (total: 47%, LC: 49%, and PCVS: 43%), public authorities (total: 41%, LC: 38%, and PCVS: 48%), and family members (total: 41%, LC: 42%, and PCVS: 39%)

So almost all healthcare workers and less than half of everyone else. Seems like this is a problem that stems and flows from healthcare workers.

 

[rvallee]

Despite ample account and characterization of stigma experiences so far, its mechanisms and consequences on health outcomes, and particularly the role of “psychologization” remain unclear.

I strongly dispute that. They are quite clear. They are intentional, this is the problem. The root cause problem is that the problem is not considered a problem, it's considered good.

It also shows how evidence hardly matters in health care. Only beliefs ultimately do. Evidence only matters depending on who believes it, who doesn't, and their influence. None of this is accidental, the consequences could not be clearer, it's that the consequences of both the problem and the resulting negligence are systematically retroactively attributed as the cause of the problem in the first place.

And a big tell of how hopeless this is is that it's always framed as feelings. Not facts, feelings. What happens to us is not facts, it's feelings. What they feel they notice about us, correct or not, is framed as facts, despite being feelings. None of the material consequences are ever considered. There is never any consideration whatsoever about the harsh reality that time is unforgiving, that treatment delayed is treatment denied, how the consequences of this amount to social murder and criminal negligence. But it's all just feelings. Our existence is just feelings in the lives of others. Intentional banality of evil.

 

[rvallee]

So almost all healthcare workers and less than half of everyone else. Seems like this is a problem that stems and flows from healthcare workers.

And a massive underestimate as one of the main efforts in recent decades has been the perfection of how to lie without sounding like it. Which has been a massive failure, since "I believe you" literally doesn't matter one bit if actions don't follow. And the actions never follow. Most patients can see through that, but one of the major problems with health care evaluation/satisfaction is that most people will give the equivalent of a 3 star rating simply if things didn't go awfully. They usually get a passing grade by just showing up and doing nothing, which is very unusual.

Just how many people have been fooled at being 'believed' by someone who never believed a word they said, but has been instructed to say those things because it gets them out? I would say it's most of those who don't report it.

 

[Hoopoe]

The system is blind to the harm it benefits from.

There is a social norm that says people who are sick must be cared for.

The psychologization allows people to violate that rule without having to face the negative consequences.

 

[Sean]

The real psycho-social pathology in ME/CFS. Entirely secondary, entirely avoidable.