Are You Experiencing Quarantine Brain?

Another term is being added to the lexicon in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: quarantine brain. It takes many forms, from confusion and fogginess to limited executive functioning. Those who fall prey to it may find themselves unable to complete tasks, manage their time and routine, and make sound decisions. This occurs even if the person has no prior history with attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Some report a lack of motivation to get out of bed, let alone engage in their daily activities. What helps them is knowing that their boss, teachers, and family are counting on them to launch themselves into their day. The brain is a reactive organ that responds to stimulus instantaneously. You get up in the middle of the night and stub your toe. Your toe sends a signal that the brain translates as pain. You immediately jump up and down, perhaps even cursing at your poor body part. Taking a moment to breathe and calm yourself and, as author and meditation teacher Stephen Levine said, “Send it mercy.” He eloquently expressed the impact of mercy over pain: “If there is a single definition of healing it is to enter with mercy and awareness those pains, mental and physical, from which we have withdrawn in judgment and dismay.”  That advice could easily be applied in the situation that people worldwide are in, in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. For a growing number of folks who don’t venture out of their homes unless they are re...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Dreams Memory and Perception Personal Coping Skills coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic Resilience social distancing Source Type: blogs