“Gray matter atrophy and severe disruption of brain functional connectivity were seen in #longCOVID patients with anxiety and depression about 3 months after acute mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. Compared with people who were asymptomatic after SARS-CoV-2 infection, long COVID patients with both anxiety and depression showed limbic atrophy and a widespread pattern of hyperconnectivity.”
Really interesting research. While this isn't, exactly, what they were looking at, I've been noticing what I'll call increased aggression in people I've known for decades beginning weeks after their first or second COVID infections.
This article touches on something that made me think about the topic:
"In the simultaneous group, gray matter atrophy was seen in the left cingulum (86 voxels) and the inferior frontal lobe (91 voxels). The asymptomatic group had no gray atrophy.
The simultaneous group presented a widespread, bilateral pattern of hyperconnectivity involving all 12 networks; the asymptomatic group showed hyperconnectivity involving only five networks."
Meanwhile, a 2008 paper titled "Neurobiology of Aggression and Violence" says this:
"The other critical abnormality implicated in impulsive aggression and violence is hyperactivity of the limbic system, including structures such as the amygdala, in response to negative or provocative stimuli, particularly anger provoking stimuli."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4176893/
My wife's the one with the neuroscience degree, so I should probably run it by her before I make any connections about science I'm definitely not an expert in, but, I was already mid-research into this subject when I saw your post so I thought I'd share.
EDITED TO ADD:
I did a poor job of explaining that there's often a link between hyperconnectivity and hyperactivity in a wide range of brain abnormalities such as ADHD, Alzheimer's and paranoia(which often goes along with aggressiveness). Paranoia is specifically linked to the limbic system.
https://elifesciences.org/articles/36011
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1756814
