Handling Addiction during COVID-19

Addiction During Covid-19

Concerns have been raised that the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a rise in alcohol and drug addiction relapses. For those people needing immediate treatment, it can seem to be a difficult time to find help when vital support services such as counselling have been affected by the lock-down and the implications met from new social distancing regulations.

In the middle of the coronavirus crisis, we know that people continue to suffer from addictive tendencies – and some may relapse back to either alcohol or drug use as a consequence of the additional pressures at this time. Feelings of loneliness, inability to meet friends and relatives and increasing anxiety may amount of relapses which in normal times would have been prevented by help from family, friends and support services.

As the pandemic began to affect our everyday lives one reaction to the lock-down that some people began to stock up on alcohol, with spirits seeing the highest increase. The World Health Organisation (WHO) official referred to this as an “unhelpful coping strategy”. With routines being so different during lock-down it might be easier to reach for a drink more frequently than normal.

Continual news stories about COVID-19, economic downturns and extended restrictions on everyday life mean that feelings of anxiety and despair will increase as weeks of quarantine take their toll.

Taking Action

Re-focusing your mind to say this is a chance to focus on yourself and your family as well as a time to reflect, may help to relieve that trapped feeling. If your still struggling to find different ways to use this time effectively in combating drug or alcohol addiction, take a look at some of our top tips to keep you distracted.

Sticking to your normal routine and keeping active will mean that it will be easier to re-adjust to the (new) normal when restrictions ease up once again. Licensed counselors and professionals are available by phone or online and are very concerned that people with mental health issues do in fact utilize these services that are available by reaching out to a professional for help in these stressful and uncertain times.