I know one in her late 30s, she is MAGA and very level headed, was moderately sick in the infectious stage and took months to get over the lingering symptoms. Like having and then getting over side effects of chemo. Some long haulers might have a mental component, but I think it's another instance of immune system getting clobbered and overreacting. For instance, measurable derangement in Ca levels, measureable sudden hypertension. This is not cognitive dissonance.