We often hear that depression is like a storm cloud overhead, casting gloom and a dark shadow on your life and relationships.
So what happens when that gloom starts to cloud your thinking?
Brain fog is a term we’re hearing more and more. It’s that sense that you are operating in an unfocused haze. You feel a bit muddled and fuzzy as you try to function normally. If you’re suffering from depression, brain fog is likely not a new concept to you. You may have experienced this phenomenon quite a lot already.
So, what is brain fog exactly, why does it happen, and how can depression affect your cognitive abilities this way?
What Is Brain Fog?
Brain fog is not a medical diagnosis or condition. However, it is a term that we use to describe certain symptoms that affect your ability to think and behave. When you have brain fog, you may feel confused and unable to concentrate. Brain fog can be linked to the same stressors that affect your moods as well. A variety of such factors include trauma, anxiety, sleep deprivation, overworking, pregnancy (baby brain), menopause, viral infection, medication, etc. can create cognitive fogginess. Brain fog can also result from depression.
How Can Depression Affect Cognitive Function
For many people suffering from depression or anxiety-related disorders, the risk of reduced cognitive function is common. The brain is strained and thought to age more quickly in a depressed state. New studies suggest that people with depression and/or anxiety are more at risk of developing dementia later in life.
When we think about depression, we often think about lower mood, lessened motivation, and a general feeling of deep sadness and despair. But the cognitive strain of those emotions demand that we take depression and mental health disorders more seriously.
Depression leads to cognitive decline.
Depression often causes a lack of interest and increased fatigue. As a result cognitive function is depressed along with your mood. You may struggle to make decisions, plan things, and solve problems with ease, which can further impact your ability to deal with depression helpfully. This may make it much easier to lose track of what’s going on around you. Perpetual fatigue exacerbates brain fog. You may become increasingly distracted, make errors at work, and begin to question yourself, your talents, and your contributions, All of this just further depresses your mood.
Unaddressed, the dual effect of depression and cognitive decline can alter the way you learn and retain knowledge, too. How well you process thoughts and memories, pay attention, and integrate new information are compromised. You may misplace items, forget what someone has just said to you or feel the need to repeat things in order to digest and understand them. This is due to the lack of dopamine in the brain, which is essential in forming stable, accurate memories.
In addition, depression can decrease higher thinking. What this means is that you may struggle to put things in perspective, control impulses and emotions, or prioritize time, tasks, and problems. When you are depressed, the executive functioning system in the brain is highly affected. This may eventually lead to dysfunctional behavior or harmful consequences.
In short, being depressed and suffering from a lowered mood without relief or support can have a measurable impact on your brain health and quality of life.
What Can You Do?
Are you ready for relief? What you're experiencing can be treated and resolved. You simply need a guide through the dark moods and fuzzy thinking.
Participating in treatment with a qualified therapist can help you get to the heart of your depression and develop soothing ways to cope that aren't mentally taxing. Working with some who supports your emotional health and overall wellbeing will prove more effective than simply addressing cognitive issues with medication and brain exercises.
Please read more about depression counseling and reach out soon, I'm here to help.