In an article published on WBUR’s Cognoscenti, Molly Colvin, PhD, a developmental neuropsychologist and director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program (LEAP) at MGH, discusses some of the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last few months, everybody’s lives have been upended. So many have lost family members and friends as a result of the pandemic; however, even those not directly affected by illness have experienced a series of major disruptions and losses: losing jobs and a sense of financial stability, lockdowns and limitations of personal freedom, separation from friends and families. These drastic changes that have turned our lives upside down and this never-ending sense of uncertainty lead to stress and anxiety.
But we are also seeing many people who complain of feeling foggy or distracted. This “brain fog” may be the byproduct of too little sleep or trying to juggle the demands of home life and child care while working remotely; however, Dr. Colvin argues that the mental fogginess most of us feel is our brain responding to acute stress. While the rest of our body is doing the “fight or flight” thing, our brains are also shifting gears in order to respond to new threats in our environment.
The cognitive changes associated with acute stress may be overlooked but are no less significant. Our full attentional resources are deployed to transform our cognitive and sensory powers into laser beams that search for and analyze threats. Anything of lesser importance is suppressed from awareness. Time warps so that the present moment is elongated. Complex thinking skills, like decision-making or planning, temporarily go offline.
So, it makes perfect sense that you left the carton of vanilla ice cream on the counter last night, and that you forgot to get a birthday present for your sister. While this may be frustrating or annoying, Dr. Colvin notes that this stress-induced shift in our cognition may have its benefits: “It forces the things that are less important into obscurity, so that we can focus on what is most important, like our safety and that of our loved ones.”
In this time of uncertainty, Dr. Colvin encourages us not to worry too much about why our brains are not working so well these days and reminds us that our creative and cognitive powers will eventually come back to us.
Read More:
That ‘Brain Fog’ You’re Feeling Is Perfectly Normal (WUR)
Molly Colvin, PhD ABPP is a developmental neuropsychologist, director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program (LEAP) at Massachusetts General Hospital, and assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School.
