There’s a collective comedown we experience at this time of year, when the festivities and holidays of Christmas, the new year and Australia Day are over.
But it’s not just the post-holiday blues we’re contending with, amid COVID-19. We’re also trying to resume normal routines in a world which hasn’t been normal for some time.
That feeling of malaise you might be noticing is a sign of something very particular happening in your brain.
“Essentially our brains have lived through two years of extreme threat and anxiety”, says Dr Susan Rossell, a professor of cognitive neuropsychology at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology.
“When we experience a threat, stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol are increased substantially to enable us to be vigilant. Those stress hormones have stayed high for two years, causing anxiety.”
The need for physical interaction
In February 2020, COVID-19 didn’t even have a name yet. Border closures were unthinkable, and we were free to enjoy the simple pleasures most generations have taken for granted: to dance, sing, show and receive affection, or just be together.
There is a tonic for the hormonal rollercoaster we’ve endured since. It comes in the form of human interactions that supply us with those feelings of love, trust, pleasure, motivation and desire.
Perversely, these very interactions have not only had to be scaled back at times, they’ve also become a source of anxiety for some.
“Humans are a social species and we know that it helps us thrive,” says Professor Rossell. “Our brains need the chemicals that are produced – the oxytocin and the dopamine – and we’ve been seriously neglected of that.”
If you’re wondering why your video-chats with friends don’t quite hit the spot, Professor Rossell says they are no substitute for the real thing.
“We do need that physical contact with other human beings.”
COVID’s complex impact on the young
It’s too early to say what the long-term effects of COVID’s social imbalance will be, but these stressors appear to be getting a different response from young children, who have little or no recollection of life before the pandemic.
“The younger age group, especially under-fives, they haven’t built-up their expectations yet of what human behaviour is supposed to look like. My suspicion is that infants and toddlers will continue to cope very well,” says Professor Rossell.
“Children over the age of 10 will continue facing some long-term problems. That’s because they had pre-pandemic expectations of what their lives were going to look like, and they were used to living in very physically and socially interactive peer groups.
“That was all taken away from them. It’s that group of people that really concern me long-term,” she says.
Generations are partly defined by major historic events, says Dr Ben Green, a cultural sociologist at Griffith University.
“Young people have been disproportionately hard hit by the pandemic, in terms of jobs and income,” he says.
“There are certain milestones like moving out of a family home, completing education, starting employment or starting a family. It’s about the transition between childhood and adulthood, between dependence and independence.
“Some rites of passage like Schoolies week or the partying, clubbing, music festival culture, holidays with friends, gap years – these are some of the ways people try to make-real that transition”, says Dr Green.
“What we’ve seen during the pandemic is that the youth transition has become more drawn-out, so it becomes more difficult to pinpoint when youth is complete, and adulthood is underway.
“It’s not to say that everyone will be the same because they lived through something. It’ll depend on how they relate to it: things like class, gender, racial identity, disability and so on.
“So, in some ways, something like the COVID pandemic can intensify some existing differences.”
The brain in ‘fight or flight’
Our hormonal responses to the pandemic are not the same as – but are comparable to – the stressors faced by previous generations.
“If you look at World War II and the war in Vietnam, people living in highly stressful situations for years on end – they had an increase of anxiety, stress and a high prevalence of mental health conditions”, says Professor Rossell.
“These are still death anxieties. It’s still about an immediate threat to your person. It’s just a slightly different threat,” she says.
There’s also a curious phenomenon taking place among those of us trying to define what it means to now be ‘living with COVID’.
Professor Rossell says the hormonal response that puts us in a prolonged state of ‘fight or flight’ can cause our brains to hit a ceiling.
“Because the levels are constantly high, there’s only so much the brain can produce and there’s only so much we can stay vigilant to. It’s flooded the system, so if anything else happens we have no extra capacity,” she says.
This is one explanation for why we see a sense of resignation about living with COVID-19, and the seeming inevitability of catching the virus.
But this isn’t the end of the story for our brains.
Long-term mental health concerns
If you or anyone you know needs help:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
- MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
- Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 or its COVID-19 support service 1800 512 348
- Headspace on 1800 650 890
- ReachOut at au.reachout.com
- Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) on 1800 008 774
- Brother to Brother on 1800 435 799
As the stressors of the past two years hopefully subside, a potentially significant reckoning is coming down the line.
“Sometimes, five to 10 years down the track, what we see is an increase in depression as the stressors start to go away,” says Professor Rossell.
“We are going to see an influx of major depressive disorders over the next few years. A really substantial increase.”
There are already signs of this. Psychologists are booked-up for months on end, and people are reaching out to services such as Lifeline and Beyond Blue in record numbers.
A chance to recalibrate
Despite COVID-19’s mental health impacts, there are some green shoots too.
“There’s considerable research coming from around the world suggesting a bigger emphasis on local communities, local environment, more people who grow their own veggies, take daily walks, and think about their diet,” says Professor Rossell.
Dr Green also sees a recalibration taking place.
“In our research with young musicians, we’ve found that there’s been this turn towards wellbeing, and to pursuing music even when young musicians aren’t able to earn an income out of it,” he says.
“The trend in capitalism has been to prioritise work over things like family, friends, hobbies, and so forth.
Do you feel as if living with COVID has changed your brain? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
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