This chapter delves into clinical and experiential complexities of Long COVID, highlighting the challenges in diagnosis and treatment due to the diversity of symptoms and the lack of established clinical standards. It focuses on specialised Long COVID services in French-speaking Switzerland, which provide symptom management and patient support through on-site consultations, experimental therapies and virtual platforms. In response to therapeutic uncertainty, clinicians and patients are engaged in a trial-and-error approach that combines palliative pharmacotherapies, medical advice, activity management strategies, and even alternative therapies and lifestyle interventions. The chapter analyses this situation through the lens of healing rituals, which influence patients’ experiences, reshape their identities, impact on their social environments and help them to cope with their chronic condition but also force them to adapt to it.

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Long COVID Services Between Medical Clinics and Healing Rituals: A Case Study in Switzerland

  • Marjolaine Viret,
  • Francesco Panese

摘要

This chapter delves into clinical and experiential complexities of Long COVID, highlighting the challenges in diagnosis and treatment due to the diversity of symptoms and the lack of established clinical standards. It focuses on specialised Long COVID services in French-speaking Switzerland, which provide symptom management and patient support through on-site consultations, experimental therapies and virtual platforms. In response to therapeutic uncertainty, clinicians and patients are engaged in a trial-and-error approach that combines palliative pharmacotherapies, medical advice, activity management strategies, and even alternative therapies and lifestyle interventions. The chapter analyses this situation through the lens of healing rituals, which influence patients’ experiences, reshape their identities, impact on their social environments and help them to cope with their chronic condition but also force them to adapt to it.