"It's not just that life is busy, or that technology hums in our pockets and minds. The truth is deeper: our nervous systems themselves have been remade by the sustained stress of the years since 2020. As a trauma psychotherapist who has watched the ripples of this change in my clients and in myself, I believe we need to name what's really happening: our minds can't rest because they've been rewired to remain in hypervigilance."
"I still remember March 2020-the world closing in, the alarms, the unknowns. Suddenly our routines vanished, and the basic assumptions of safety, connection, and permanence became unstable. In that moment, we didn't just feel anxious-we felt the ground beneath us shift. Globally, the prevalence of anxiety and depression jumped by around 25%. What followed wasn't mere short-term distress but a sustained period of chronic activation."
Nervous systems have been remade by sustained stress since 2020, producing chronic hypervigilance and psychic restlessness. Routines and assumptions of safety, connection, and permanence collapsed early in the pandemic, triggering prolonged activation of stress responses. Global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by about 25%, reflecting widespread, sustained distress rather than short-term shock. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system were repeatedly engaged over months and years. Chronic stress alters brain circuits, hormonal rhythms, inflammation levels, and cognitive flexibility, preventing a simple return to prior baseline functioning. Feeling unable to rest is a physiological adaptation to prolonged collective stress and not a personal weakness.
Read at Psychology Today
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