The present mixed-methods study investigated the role of various predictors of meaning in life (MIL) in individuals with dysautonomia, a condition growing in prevalence with increasing reports of long-COVID (LC), Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and similar manifestations. Specifically, this study examined total autonomic symptom count, duration of symptoms, religious practice status (yes/no while living with the condition), and age as predictors of Search for and Presence of MIL. In the sample, 50.8% reported LC or a similar post-viral syndrome as at least one contributing factor. Participants (N = 305), aged 18-68 years (M = 34.09, SD = 10.98), were members of online dysautonomia support groups internationally. Symptom duration and active religious practice were positively associated with Presence of MIL, whereas higher symptom count was negatively associated. This suggests that those who have lived with the condition longer and those who practiced a religion while living with dysautonomia may have a greater capacity to find MIL. Critically, higher symptom count was associated with less meaning. Age was the only significant predictor of Search for meaning, with older participants reporting a lesser need to search. Importantly, associations between the predictors and Presence of MIL did not differ significantly between etiological subgroups, indicating that these predictors relate to Presence of MIL similarly across groups with different etiological and symptomatic profiles. Qualitative responses were analyzed thematically to contextualize and enrich quantitative findings.
Yeager et al. (2026) studied this question.