FEELING UNDER ATTACK?

LAST YEAR, THE OFFICE for National Statistics revealed that depression rates have doubled since the Covid-19 pandemic began. And this is playing into what we psychologists call “threat brain”, which is the oldest part of the emotion system, enabling you to recognise and respond to danger.

In the early days of the pandemic, your threat brain was operating as intended – in other words it was alert to and highly responsive to real danger. Motivated by actual threat, people acted quickly in a way that felt appropriate, with the information they were given.

The problem is that over