One of the most frequent questions I get is why are attention, concentration and memory the first to go away when we feel depressed and anxious? In our anxiety threads, we talked about anxiety being a fight or flight response in response to a “danger”. It doesn’t matter if
the danger is real or not. That’s how our brain perceives it before kicking in that response. The responses of our body to that danger are to go in survival instinct mode. That means that higher brain functions (consciousness, memory,etc) shut down as they are very energy hungry.
Instead, that energy is now directed to our survival, meaning it goes to our muscles in preparation for fight or flight. Have you noticed how during periods of anxiety, we tend to want to pee so much? Even the energy to control our bladder is gone.
Now for anxiety disorder, it is not just one episode of “danger” but repeated ones every single day. Our brain is now in a state of almost permanent survival mode. That means that the energy doesn’t really return to the higher brain functions and we are caught by surprise.
We think that those functions are gone and that this is who we are now. The good news is that they do not go away forever. They simply need to be pushed away to face this supposed danger. After your anxiety is gone, slowly, they are going to come back. This is where people worry.
It doesn’t come back right after your anxiety goes away. Remember your brain has been fighting this for a while and it is depleted of energy and drive to continue. Fight or flight responses are supposed to be a one time boost for us, not a continuous battle. Exhaustion sets in.
It takes a little time after anxiety and/or depression to be under control before those higher brain functions come back. That’s why you need to be patient with yourself and take your time to recover. It is not something that is spontaneous.
