Covid-19 is impacting a multitude of areas around the country. In California and New York, restaurants are not allowed to open their dining rooms. They can only serve meals as takeout or provide outdoor setting for their customers can only stay and eat if the restaurant has outdoor seating. This has impacted not only tourism, but the local economy. Another area impacted us education, where some children are able to return to schools, only to be sent home because they or their classmates tested positive for the virus. Others are receiving their education through a computer, having a hard time trying to stay engaged, while seeing the mental health impact of not being around other children their age.
Currently, there is light dialogue surrounding the impact has had on mental health, but almost none about the impact it has had on substance abuse and addiction. Here is what you need to know:
An Increase in Substance Abuse Can Be Directly Traced to Covid-19
There is no doubt that the pandemic is affecting the lives of people who don’t have the virus. This can be seen in the increased numbers of substance abuse cases. If you’re suffering from mental health issues and you feel they’ve gotten worse as a result of the recent coronavirus outbreak, you may benefit from online therapy.
Some correlations we are seeing is that the rise in substance abuse and addiction is related to the rise in covid-19 cases in the U.S. and around the world, the stay at home orders, anxiety caused by job loss, and increased pressure from children at home. Here is what you can do to help make a difference:
Stay Engaged
Covid has caused many people who were once socially active having to stay indoors and disengage physically from the world. In prison, the worst punishment is isolation. That is what many have been asked to do, self-isolate. For some, that is a punishment worse than death. Increases in suicide seem to bear that out. Many are turning to drinking or using drugs in order to cope with their current situation.
You can help someone you love by staying engaged with them and helping them find healthy outlets for engagement with others. According to the National Institutes of Health, failure to get enough social support is one of the main depression and addiction-causing factors. You can help by making sure your socially dependent loved ones get the social support they need.
Help Them Find the Help They Need
Individuals with the disease of addiction are often the last to know they have an addiction. You will know it long before they will. Since you are among the first to know, you should be the one to make the first move. Psychology Today suggests a dozen ways you can help. First among those ways is to make the first move and say you want to help.
If you wait till they make the first move, they could wait until a full recovery seems like too daunting a task. It is never too late to help. Get to them early with your offer to help and their chances of recovery will be increased. Like cancer, it helps to treat it as early as possible.
Covid-19 does a lot more than kill. It demoralizes. You don’t have to physically contract the virus to suffer from its secondary effects. Recognize those people in your life who are vulnerable to substance use disorder and triggered by situational depression. Keep them socially engaged. And proactively help them find the help they need.