was that it was the cognitive deficits associated with depression or
psychotic disorders. I don't think its what I am experiencing at this
current time. I feel it is a loss of intelligence or capability caused
by lack of stress and challenge.
In a review of material I did a while ago looking for information on
stress and mental health I found a review paper on cogntion and stress.
STRESS AND COGNITION: A COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE by Lyle E.
Bourne, Jr. and Rita A. Yaroush
http://psych.colorado.edu/~lbourne/StressCognition.pdf
<http://psych.colorado.edu/%7Elbourne/StressCognition.pdf>
P33 has a useful graph
.Graph of stress versus performance
I'm probably at the left hand side of the curve at the moment. Last year
when I worked in an office I was on the other half of the curve. My
level of mental distress is considerably lower but I'm not enjoying it.
The aspect of lack of challenge causing a detroriation in mental
faculties is fairly obvious to me though I have not found any evidence
for it (nor looked). The skils of the mind are like a knife that needs
to be used regularly to keep it sharp. Skills and cognitive functions
can be learnt and improved with time, but the will languish if left unused.
Its not necessarily true that my intelligence may have dropped of
course. It could be I am not percieving myself accurately. I may be
percieving my cognitive ability as "glass half empty" or however else a
CBT therapist might describe it.
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