Our five senses — sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste — connect us with the world. From the sight of a distant sunset over emerald waters, to the feeling of embracing a loved one, the smell of hot brownies wafting from the kitchen, to tasting the multitude of flavors at Thanksgiving, we fundamentally rely on our senses to engage with our environment.

Certain scents and flavors can even comfort us; they have the ability to boost dopamine levels and uplift our mood because they connect us with happy memories (i.e. the smell of freshly baked brownies can prompt you to remember how you used to bake brownies with your grandmother).

Unfortunately, as a result of COVID-19, more individuals have lost their sense of smell, taste, or both this past year than perhaps any time in history. Not only is this sensory loss an uncomfortable symptom and a challenge to grapple with, but it also poses a variety of mental health concerns.

So, what do you do if you’ve lost your sense of smell and taste? How do you cope?

Losing Your Smell and Taste from COVID-19

As we all now know, COVID-19 is a mysterious, contagious, and sometimes fatal disease. When it first appeared, a variety of odd symptoms began to be noticed in those who had fallen ill, among them, the loss of scent and taste. Many have described partially losing these senses, reporting that foods they once loved they now can’t stomach, or explaining that everything tastes metallic and unappetizing. Others have completely lost both these senses, being unable to smell or taste at all.

Exactly when the loss of taste and smell occurs varies: some might lose these senses as one of the first side effects of COVID-19, while others only experience the loss after they’ve already recovered from the illness.

How to test your smell and taste senses

If you think you might be dealing with the loss of taste or smell due to COVID-19, or if you want to know what to look out for, try out the exercises below:

Recovering from the loss of smell and taste after COVID-19

Although olfactory neurons are capable of regenerating, everyone will respond differently to the loss of a sense. For some, their sense of taste or smell will never return to pre-COVID levels, and some might never regain these senses at all. But more research is still needed to be done.

As Dr. Sandeep Robert Datta, an associate professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School says, “If you think worldwide about the number of people with Covid, even if only 10 percent have a more prolonged smell loss, we’re talking about potentially millions of people.” This realization has prompted a surge of research into the olfactory realm as scientists try to uncover a cure for the situation.

Before COVID-19, not much attention was given to researching olfaction, but that has quickly changed. And now many who have lost these senses are relying on researchers to help them find a way to experience life like they once used to. This new research will also greatly benefit those who have suffered since before COVID-19 from anosmia, the partial or complete loss of smell.

Mental Health Implications That Arise from Loss of Smell and Taste

The loss of smell or taste impacts our quality of life. AsThe New York Times explains, studies have linked anosmia to social isolation and anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure and a general sense of detachment from others. This sensory deficit leads individuals to perceive their bonds with others as strained and intimaterelationships are negatively impacted, leading to feelings of loneliness.

As Talkspace therapist Liz Kelly, LICSW, explains further, “The loss of your taste and smell is also an invisible, or hidden, disability; other people can’t readily observe this condition. Individuals contending with the loss of their taste and smell may experience isolation and loneliness because others do not know about or understand their experience.”

The inability to smell also restricts the way individuals perceive their environment, changing the way they live and experience the world. They’re stripped of that powerful engine of sense memory. One member of aFacebook support groupwrote: “I feel discombobulated — like I don’t exist. I can’t smell my house and feel at home. I can’t smell fresh air or grass when I go out. I can’t smell the rain.”

This lack of sensory experience can have a severe impact on mood and individual well-being, and is a substantial riskfactor for anxietyand depression. Researchers have even found that olfactory dysfunction might lead to social disconnection. The mental health impacts of this loss are great, but it is best to familiarize yourself with them as well as how they can impact other mental health conditions.

Eating disorders

Eating, a once pleasurable experience, may become uncomfortable and upsetting for those no longer able to properly smell or taste their food. It might also be harder to gauge one’s appetite, and many are reporting eating less, which might lead to substantial weight loss.

Anxiety disorders

Many are experiencing increased anxiety as a result of their anosmia. Not being able to smell strips us of important survival skills, leading to anxiety about being able to smell a gas leak, a fire, or detect spoiled foods. Other anxiety-inducing elements of the loss of smell include being unaware of your personal smell, being unable to detect dirty laundry, serving food to others that you can’t taste or smell beforehand, or feeling like you’re missing out on a shared common experience. As Dr. Datta said, “when someone is denied their sense of smell, it changes the way they perceive the environment and their place in the environment. People’s sense of well-being declines. It can be really jarring and disconcerting.”

Depression

If a loss of taste and smell is causing you to feel anxious or depressed, know that you aren’t alone. You’re grappling with a significant life change, one of the most fundamental methods ofconnecting with the world. “These senses are closely tied to our emotions and memories. Losing one’s sense of taste and smell is a real loss and can bring up feelings of grief including sadness, anger, regret, denial, frustration, and other emotions,” says Kelly. “If this loss is causing you to feel anxious or depressed, acknowledge what you are feeling and give yourself permission to feel the complex emotions coming up for you.”

How to cope with this COVID-19 symptom

COVID-19 has tested us all in so many ways. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you cope with this loss:

Remember that all your feelings are valid, and be gentle with yourself. Allow yourself to simultaneously experience both the pain of losing these senses and pleasure that you find in other areas of your life. Getting through this loss will build your resilience for years to come. If you need help, please seek it. We are here to listen and help guide you through whatever feelings you might experience.

Our goal at Talkspace is to provide the most up-to-date, valuable, and objective information on mental health-related topics in order to help readers make informed decisions.

Articles contain trusted third-party sources that are either directly linked to in the text or listed at the bottom to take readers directly to the source.

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