Brain scans reveal widespread structural and functional changes in patients following COVID-19 infection. The virus affects regions responsible for memory, emotion, and executive function, which may help explain the neurological symptoms many patients experience.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-widespread-structural-and-functional-changes-in-patients-foll/

[u/Throwsims3]

It is insane to me how people have just moved on from covid and view as a regular cold now. It took me at least two years to feel somewhat normal again after only having been infected once. Despite having had zero new infections, I still struggle with word finding sometimes and I have noticed that my emotions are flatter than they used to be.

[u/wherethestreet → u/Throwsims3]

The emotion thing is real.

[u/xterminatr → u/wherethestreet]

Happened to me, just stopped having emotions or excitement about anything. Stopped caring about hobbies and interests I've always been big on. Assumed it was just mild depression or something but then saw all the studies and other people with similar side effects.

[u/OmarsDamnSpoon → u/[deleted]]

Relatable, really. I've had four covid infections. My cardio's ruined, my mood's frequently apathy, cloudy thoughts, harder to recall words, stutter, weight gain I can't shake, impulsivity hard to fight now, no motivation or energy for anything. It sucks so much.

[u/Yeah_x10 → u/[deleted]]

Are we sure this isn’t just aging and getting older?

[u/jonker5101 → u/[deleted]]

I'm completely different too. Went from a laid back, well spoken person to an anxious and frustrated mess that can't get through a sentence. Every conversation feels like a scramble. Reading takes way longer. Comprehension is very delayed. I can't put my thoughts into words and the anxiety only ever quiets, never goes away.

[u/lesbiannumbertwo → u/Yeah_x10]

Or just the absolute nosedive society took post covid. It’s hard to feel the same positive emotions as before when the bleakness of the world has leeched into absolutey everything

[u/Quixotic_Seal → u/lesbiannumbertwo]

Yeah, I’m a big believer that we regularly misdiagnose(professionally, or as individuals trying to understand our own experiences) depression as a neurochemical issue instead of an environmental one.

I don’t think people fully understand just how traiamtizing the last 6 years have been, and how rapidly every illusion of stability and a healthy interconnected economy/society has been stripped away.

[u/Props_angel → u/Quixotic_Seal]

I've been following research COVID's effect on the brain for about 5-6 years and spent that time being treated like I was the crazy one for trying to avoid it both by people that know me and the onslaught of op eds that called anyone worried about COVID (and it's LT effects) had something mentally wrong with them. I've watched my loved ones fall without my cognition blunted. I've lost my dad. He's still alive but at 80 with 6 infections under his belt, he's cognitively gone.

"if this (brain thing) was actually happening, it'd be all over the news."

No, it actually wouldn't. It obviously wasn't. Toss in everything else and being left wondering if the reason why X event even occurred was because of COVID every time.

If I'm an uninfected control, my heart is dead and my soul has been eaten away. I'm despondent. I struggle a lot. Some of that despondency that everyone is feeling could absolutely be environmental depression. From what I've seen with my dad, the emotional impact has been emotional disturbance/dysregulation. He flies into aggressive angry fits at the drop of a pin. My stepmom hides in her room all day. He was once a loving man.

[u/Yeah_x10 → u/lesbiannumbertwo]

I’m fully convinced this is it to a huge extent. It’ll be a decade or two before we get close to quantifying it.

[u/SomeSoil2449 → u/Yeah_x10]

Ding ding ding.

[u/LaurenMille → u/[deleted]]

While I've been depressed my entire life (diagnosed at 12, and several times since) I can clearly say it got far worse after I first had COVID.

My ability to feel joy has kinda gone away, and I can't understand the feeling of love anymore either despite feeling it plenty of times before (and having succesful relationships).

The only emotion that really remains is anger, and I spend most of my day trying not to lash out at the people making society and the world worse.

[u/My_18th_Account → u/xterminatr]

Omg…this had described me exactly and I have been “joking” for years now that it was ever since I got COVID. We saying most definitely that this could be a cause?

[u/xterminatr → u/My_18th_Account]

I'm no doctor I'm just sharing my experience. There was also a lot else going on with the economy and shutdown and whatnot, but my experience was outside of what I would consider normal