In the height of the covid pandemic, the immediate effects of coronavirus as a virus carried the greatest worry.
Efforts were made and are still continuing to stop the spread of the virus, to uphold the economy, to preserve health and to protect the NHS.
It’s understandable as to why such significant focus has been placed on the instant impacts of covid. However, through its whirlwind, unprecedented effects, it’s also important that we consider how long covid may materialise and continue to disrupt the norm we once knew.
One of the biggest talking points and research areas surrounds the hidden long term cognitive effects of long covid, from the impacts of the virus itself to the degree of PTSD through the social, economic and psychological injustice of covid.
Research this far has highlighted how around 30% of participants with covid have experienced neurological and cognitive vulnerabilities, caused by symptoms and encounters of coronavirus.
It’s likely that such figures will maintain or even increase, as the pandemic continues to disrupt, continues to heighten despair and continues to increase mental health suffering.
Here’s the realism of long covid, along with the major effects surrounding how covid can damage the brain, memory and mental health. If you’re struggling through the long-term effects of covid, we are here for you at Cassiobury Court.
The realism of long covid
Covid itself has resulted in a loss, sadness, stress, pressure, despair and insignificant delay. In the moment, those impacts are of course significant and important to focus on.
However, down to the intensity of covid and its disruptive unfolding, it’s easy to see why such impacts are immovable, standing as long covid.
Long covid is the long-term effects of encountering the virus itself, or the effects of its presence on a variety of different scales. From a health perspective, the realism of long covid surrounds respiratory and central nervous system weaknesses, caused by coronavirus, placing worry on wellbeing.
From the presence of covid, we’ve witnessed social, economic, spiritual and psychological injustice, despair and change, which for some will live on as long covid.
It’s very common for a global pandemic, to this degree, to continue to carry effect. While the situation around us may improve as the vaccine begins to work, as the economy restarts, and as a sense of normality resurfaces, the devastating imprint of covid for some individuals will reside.
We must focus on how such an unprecedented, memorable yet devastating pandemic will influence our futures, where significant worry is already placed on the quality of life and cognitive effects.
Here are the hidden long term cognitive effects of long covid, which if experienced, will amount to a crisis in itself of mental health instability and damage.
The hidden long term cognitive effects of long covid
For a number of different reasons, the concern is placed on the long-term cognitive effects of long covid, which to this point may be seen as hidden, down to inexperience.
However, as the impacts of covid continue to materialise, forecasts of cognitive damage, mental health instability and social anxieties are present.
Cognitive effects of covid
While covid is a respiratory impacting virus, cognitive effects of covid are associated, from the impacts of reduced oxygen intake to the effects that the virus has on the central nervous system.
Research has highlighted how the virus does impact the central nervous system, which if experienced by patients, can increase the risk of cognitive weaknesses, impaired functionality and risks of mental health effects.
Findings also highlight the effects that reduced oxygen intake, caused by the pressure that the virus places on the respiratory system, is found to reduce optimal levels of oxygen to the brain, usually resulting in damage.
Symptoms of a stroke are highly correlated with the cognitive effects of covid itself, which can reasonably amount to ongoing effects, embodying the definition of long covid.
While subtle effects may be experienced, it’s already found that cognitive changes have been encountered by patients with covid, indicating how distress and pressure on the brain are consequences of the virus.
Mental health effects of covid
The hidden long term cognitive effects of long covid also surround mental health instability, where such pressure on the brain can reduce the natural production of chemicals and hormones.
This combined with the active, distressing experiences of covid indicates how damaging such change can be to outlooks, mindset, perceptions and emotions.
There are a multitude of ways in which covid itself, and long covid can impact mental health. From the anxiety that such unfamiliarity has caused, to the financial losses and pressures that lockdowns have resulted in, to the effects of isolation, and to the increased use of unhealthy coping strategies, mental health diagnosis rates are up.
Key concerns of long covid surround PTSD, panic disorders, addiction, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders, all psychological and cognitive vulnerabilities, adapting the quality of life.
Social effects of covid
The constraints of covid, where lockdowns, isolation and social distancing have led the way, there are significant social effects of covid, which also carry a concern for long covid.
One of the most worrying impacts is the increase in social anxiety diagnoses, making the return to normality, for some, unbearable.
We’ve been thrown into a new way of living, of engaging and of relating for over a year, meaning that new routines, habits and outlooks will have formed. While the world returns to a sense of normality and continuity, there’s a worry around how those with pre-existing or newly formed mental health issues will respond to this change, along with the effects of long covid.
Further mental health issues are already experienced by the masses. Yet the cause of covid has now forecasted even more experiences of panic, anxiety and social phobias, as a result of the change.
Sourcing support for effects of covid
Covid itself has caused irreversible and ingrained memories, experiences and effects. However, long covid is real, is a consequence of such history and will define the future for many individuals. The hidden long term cognitive effects of long covid, while fluctuating in effect, will result in even more change and suffering.
Long covid will likely cause a crisis in itself, of neurological, cognitive and mental health worries, increasing the demand for professional support.
If you’re struggling, now or into the future, it’s important to remember that support and treatment will be available, whether you require medical assistance for cognitive impairments or mental health support for such vulnerabilities.
At Cassiobury Court, we’re here to assist with the latter, to help you overcome the traumatic, stressful and sad reality that covid has caused.
We must prepare for long covid, we must understand how many individuals will be impacted by its long-term effects, and we must work to uncover those hidden effects with support.
Source
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-hidden-long-term-cognitive-effects-of-covid-2020100821133
