The Psychological Impact of the Pandemic in the Future

CHRISTINE RUNYAN, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SCHOOL: Well, I think it’s a basic that we forget sometimes that we are animals, that we are creatures walking this Earth with these incredible, incredible brains that allow us to dream and create and function and imagine and all of the — makes sense of things. But underneath the skin and in our bodies, we are really still operating at a very primitive and animalistic level, if you will. And so, when we experience threat, which we all have done for the last year, our system responds in a very predictable and really exquisite way. And it’s a good thing that it does. It keeps us safe. It keeps us alive. But our system responds in a way that very quickly moves us from a place of homeostasis, where we can have present moment awareness, where we can function well, we can relate to others, relate to ourselves, to a state of either being very hyperaroused and activated, or, for some people, kind of shut down and detached to try to make sense of this threat and what’s going on. And so we have all been living under that state for a long time, and just now beginning to see hints of possibly being able to come out of it, and will, in fact, have to do some relearning to be able to do that successfully, because our brains are thankfully changing all the time. We know that through neuroplasticity. But they have changed in response to this year long of threat, of being a threat to others and being threatened by others.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So that’s interesting, because you say we will have to relearn in many instances. Obviously, this idea of brain fog, I mean, it’s been around clearly, but there’s an article recently in “The Atlantic” which has put it front and center. And it’s called “Late-Stage Pandemic Is Messing With Your Brain.” And there’s someone who said on — on social media said: “It’s like a television. There are days when I feel like I’m constantly scanning channels, trying to find one that works. And my brain is just static.” Can it cause lasting damage, do you think?

RUNYAN: Well, I think, for some people, I worry that it may. In fact, there’s going to be some people who are highly, highly reluctant and have a lot of difficulty of coming out of this, even in the state of mass vaccination and return to normal. There’s going to be a sub-portion of the population that it’s going to be extremely difficult for them to do that for a variety of reasons. And I think it’s really helpful to acknowledge, and I like that article, to recognize the normalcy of what we have experienced in our bodies and in our brains as a result of this pandemic, this global pandemic.