What Is Cognitive Function and How Is It Affected by Mental Health?

Do you ever feel like your brain is moving through sludge? You might find yourself rereading the same sentence over and over, struggling to make a simple decision, or forgetting why you walked into a room. This feeling of “brain fog” is more than just a little distraction; it’s a sign that your cognitive function is being affected. And it’s one of the most common, yet least talked about, symptoms of many psychiatric conditions.

At Televero Health, we know that these cognitive symptoms can be just as debilitating as the emotional ones. When you can’t think clearly, it affects your performance at work or school and can make even simple daily tasks feel overwhelming. Understanding what cognitive function is and how your mental health impacts it is a key part of understanding the full scope of your condition.

What Is Cognitive Function?

Cognitive function is a broad term for the mental processes that allow you to take in, process, and use information. It’s the “thinking” part of your brain. These skills are what you use every moment of your waking life to navigate the world. They are often grouped under the umbrella of “executive functions,” which are the high-level skills that help you manage yourself and your resources to achieve a goal.

Key cognitive functions include:

• Attention and Concentration: The ability to focus on a task and resist distractions.
• Working Memory: Your brain’s “scratchpad.” It’s the ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind for a short period, like when you’re doing a math problem in your head or remembering a phone number long enough to dial it.
• Processing Speed: How quickly you can take in information, understand it, and respond to it.
• Learning and Memory: The ability to form new memories and retrieve old ones.
• Executive Functioning: This includes higher-level skills like planning, organizing, problem-solving, and decision-making.

How Mental Health Conditions Impair Cognition

Conditions like depression, anxiety, and ADHD can have a major impact on these cognitive skills. It’s not that you’ve become less intelligent; it’s that the illness is interfering with your brain’s ability to perform at its best.

In depression, the brain’s activity is often slowed down. The fatigue and lack of motivation that come with depression can make it feel like a monumental effort to engage in any mental task. The parts of the brain involved in executive function, like the prefrontal cortex, are often underactive. This can lead to what’s sometimes called “depressive cognitive deficit,” characterized by poor concentration, indecisiveness, and memory problems.

In anxiety disorders, the brain is in a state of hypervigilance, constantly scanning for threats. This means that a huge amount of your mental bandwidth is being taken up by worry and fear. There are simply fewer cognitive resources left over for other tasks. It’s hard to concentrate on a report for work when a part of your brain is constantly screaming that something terrible is about to happen. This can lead to distractibility and difficulty with working memory.

In ADHD, the cognitive challenges are a core feature of the disorder itself. As we’ve discussed, ADHD is fundamentally a disorder of the brain’s executive functions, caused by issues with neurotransmitters like dopamine. This directly impacts attention, organization, impulse control, and working memory.

Improving Your Cognitive Function

The good news is that as you treat the underlying psychiatric condition, your cognitive function will often improve as well. As the symptoms of depression or anxiety lessen, your brain is freed up to devote more resources to thinking and concentrating.

Medication can help to restore the brain chemistry needed for healthy cognitive function. Therapy, particularly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), can help you to manage the negative thoughts and worries that are draining your mental energy. There are also specific therapeutic techniques, called cognitive remediation, that act like physical therapy for the brain, using targeted exercises to help you strengthen specific cognitive skills.

Lifestyle factors are also crucial. Getting enough sleep is perhaps the single most important thing you can do for your cognitive health. Regular exercise and a nutrient-dense diet also provide your brain with the fuel and support it needs to work optimally.

If you are struggling with brain fog, difficulty concentrating, or memory problems, be sure to talk to your psychiatrist about it. These are real symptoms of your condition, and they deserve to be addressed as part of your comprehensive treatment plan.

Key Takeaways

• Cognitive function refers to your brain’s “thinking” skills, such as attention, memory, and problem-solving.
• Psychiatric conditions like depression, anxiety, and ADHD can significantly impair cognitive function, leading to “brain fog” and difficulty concentrating.
• This impairment is not a sign of low intelligence but a direct symptom of how the illness is affecting your brain’s biology and resources.
• Treating the underlying condition through medication, therapy, and healthy lifestyle choices will often lead to a significant improvement in your cognitive abilities.

Ready to take the first step? We can help. Get started with Televero Health today.