Neuroplasticity for Chronic Fatigue Recovery: Going Deeper

In this blog post over at Psychology Today, I build on my previous post looking at practical ways of harnessing neuroplasticity to promote recovery from ME/CFS and long Covid. In this post, I explore how doing deeper psychological work can aid recovery. Here is an excerpt:

In my previous post, I shared some thoughts on how we can use the brain’s plasticity to aid recovery from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long Covid. We explored how developing a robust understanding of your symptoms can enable you to respond to them from a place of safety and coherence, rather than fear and confusion. In turn, this can serve as a strong foundation on which to gradually move back into the world.

For many people, these steps are sufficient to promote an improvement in symptoms. However, for others, it can also be valuable to do deeper psychological work to promote greater psychobiological regulation.

It may well feel strange to be exploring psychological approaches to recovery from a physical illness. I completely understand how doing so might feel in danger of reinforcing the fallacy that these physical symptoms are somehow “all in the mind.” This is emphatically not the case.

As Monty Lyman writes in The Immune Mind:

“There should be absolutely no shame or stigma in using the power of the brain to relieve the symptoms of long covid. We already know that the state of our mind and nervous system can powerfully influence the immune system and contribute to a hyperactive defence system. A well-targeted psychological therapy with a clued-up, understanding clinician is, ultimately, a powerful biological treatment.”

Working with a knowledgeable and compassionate clinician can be extremely valuable. However, it is also entirely possible to do meaningful work on your own steam, or perhaps alongside someone else who is also navigating recovery from ME/CFS or long Covid. With that said, let’s explore three ways we can go deeper to harness the malleability of the brain and wider nervous system to support recovery from ME/CFS and long Covid.

In the full post, I explore these three approaches:

1. Change your relationship with your emotions.

2. Get to know the parts of you that disconnect you from your needs.

3. Heal underlying psychological wounds.

Head over to Psychology Today to read the full post.