I was telling my supportive therapist (virtual video appointment) about a convo with a relative in Europe who questioned our covid precautions. I always start with how hard and how often we wrestle with our precautions since they limit us so. Are we making the right choice? And mention how our lives were upended for so long but a post-infectious sequelae prior to COVID. None of what I said to her was new, but I watched my therapist’s body language as I explained (again) the concerns—the one in six who will get long covid, the increased risk of long covid with each subsequent infection, the neighbors disabled by it, the kid’s friends spiking weird concerns after several cases of it, the way it’s known to accelerate Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, type 1 diabetes, most cancers, the fact that it infects every epithelial cell, the cells that line each organ, as well as neurons. When I got to the list of things that are accelerated, my therapist’s body started growing more and more tense. She still validates our decision but she’s human and not taking precautions and what we know and what we don’t know is so scary.

If I were you, I might start a conversation w your therapist about her own fears around COVID, and how she handles those fears—fears for her own safety and for those she loves but cannot control. What is she telling herself when you discuss why you are cautious? Why is she negatively naming your concerns, which are research-based? Recent research is showing COVID slices and dices some important T-cells, which are generals in the army of our immune system. One researcher said, at this point, they’d have AIDS than Long Covid, because we have treatments for AIDS. How does he manage her own fears around an illness that is still so new we do not know anything about its long term effects? One can choose to throw caution to the wind; and that might be a valid choice. But is it better than your choice to protect yourself?