Item

The Emotional Toll of the Loss of Smell

Title (Dublin Core)

The Emotional Toll of the Loss of Smell

Description (Dublin Core)

When weighing the various outcomes of contracting Covid-19, the loss of smell seemed rather low on the list. Smell always ranked rather low in the hierarchy of the five senses. Sense of smell was always the go to answer in the childhood ice breaker “if you had to lose one of your five senses, which would you choose and why?” The lowly sense of smell seemed the least important. And in the Covid-19 experience, this strange symptom seemed to pale in comparison with being put on a ventilator, going in a coma, or losing one’s life. However, this article on the emotional impact of losing one’s sense of smell is a reminder that the aftermath of Covid-19, and the very ability to smell, is more complicated than one could imagine. As numerous survivors attest, the loss of smell is disorienting and depressing. It is not simply the inability to taste food, or coping with ordinary smells that are now offensive. Scents are tied to our memories, and many survivors relate losing their sense of smell to losing their sense of self. As this article explains, many survivors are turning to smell training in hopes of regaining a part of themselves that many of us never gave a second thought to prior to this pandemic.

Date (Dublin Core)

February 4, 2021

Creator (Dublin Core)

Brittny Mejia

Contributor (Dublin Core)

Kathryn Jue

Event Identifier (Dublin Core)

HST580

Partner (Dublin Core)

Arizona State University

Type (Dublin Core)

Screenshot

Link (Bibliographic Ontology)

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-04/regain-sense-of-smell-after-covid19-some-try-anything
http://web.archive.org//web/20210210014601/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-04/regain-sense-of-smell-after-covid19-some-try-anything

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Emotion
English Health & Wellness
English Healthcare

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

smell
ventilator
coma
taste
disorienting
depressing

Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)

smell
loss
survivor
smell training

Collection (Dublin Core)

Healthcare
Survivor Stories

Linked Data (Dublin Core)

A tray that says "When life throws you a rainy day, play in the puddles".Disneyland Main Street After Closure Announcement
HST 580 Professional Experience/Archives course

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

02/05/2021

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

02/09/2021
03/14/2021
08/02/2022
09/12/2024

Date Created (Dublin Core)

02/04/2021

Item sets

Covid 19
Arizona State University

This item was submitted on February 5, 2021 by Kathryn Jue using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive

Click here to view the collected data.

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