They may start there, but they don't end there. You can objectively measure many symptoms (e.g. physical exams, blood tests, cognitive tests).
Once you start extending symptoms to "unverifiable claims made by the patient", it can be very real for the patient, but you can never eliminate the possibility that the mind is creating the symptom, and nothing is physically wrong.
That "fatigue" is one of the most common "long covid" symptoms, for example, is confounded by the fact that fatigue is one of the major symptoms of depression.
And where do you imagine this "mind" exists which is separate from physical reality for it to exist while "nothing is physically wrong"?
The answer of course, is that there is no such thing. Perhaps the fatigue/depression is due to issues with neurotransmitters or the organs that regulate them, neurons, blood oxygen levels, blood-brain barrier issues, brain structure, nerves in other parts of the body, endocrine function, etc.
If we figured out tomorrow that we could treat it with an injection of B vitamins or a pill of serotonin or a session of magnetic therapy or a fecal transplant to change the patient's gut microbiome or whatever new thing, then you could easily point to the "physically wrong" thing which was causing it. But treating "the mind" as a separate, non-physical thing is no different than suggesting some other supernatural, non-physical thing like God or spirits or curses is causing it.
My point isn't to get into a debate about metaphysics. I only emphasized that to head off the usual sorts of criticisms that get flung at someone who points out (correctly) that psychosomatic illness is a real thing. Symptoms caused by the mind are still real symptoms. They just aren't caused by a virus.
Also, the existence of a treatment no more implies the existence of a physical mechanism than the existence of a placebo implies the existence of magic. Every illness is a mixture of biological and psychological factors, and simply feeling like someone is caring for you can cure even intransigent symptoms.
Is Covid causing depression? Nobody knows. But leaping to the conclusion that it is -- and therefore we must do X,Y or Z in response -- is irresponsible when there's a more parsimonious explanation: people have have just lived through a mass cultural event that is causing a great deal of depression, everywhere.
Once you start extending symptoms to "unverifiable claims made by the patient", it can be very real for the patient, but you can never eliminate the possibility that the mind is creating the symptom, and nothing is physically wrong.
That "fatigue" is one of the most common "long covid" symptoms, for example, is confounded by the fact that fatigue is one of the major symptoms of depression.
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