The recovery journey

4. Crisis

‘I did have suicidal thoughts [...] I had such bad anxiety, I honestly thought I was going to die, like literally. Literally laid in bed, I thought this is it, I'm done, I'm not going to get better. And if this is my life now, I don't want to be here.’

Many people described a crisis. This stage typically involved:

• Not getting better and the loss of hope of getting better.

• Decline in mental health - depression was common and several people said they had had had suicidal thoughts.

• Feelings of loss and grief which could be overwhelming.

• Trauma – including the trauma of not being believed/not receiving support; of both acute and chronic illness; of the pandemic; and, for some, the re-emergence of past/childhood trauma.

• Crises often occurred before people received specialist support from the Long Covid clinic and after other support (e.g. GP, other non-Covid specialists) had not met their needs – indicating the importance both of the quality of support received from the first point of contact and of quick referral to specialist support.

• People from minoritised groups are less likely to access specialist support, so may be more at risk of reaching/remaining at this crisis point.