The coronavirus pandemic is conducive to addictions, because they are compounded by each new crisis [WE EXPLAIN]

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Shortly after the relaxation of social quarantine regulations, which coincided with warm sunny weather, the city’s green spaces, parks and forests filled up. In the bosom of nature there are also groups of beer lovers and monkeys. Life returns, and alcohol and cigarettes play the role of a cure for stress, anxiety and boredom in the new reality.

Coronavirus in Poland. Alarming data on the increase in alcohol consumption

Michał, an alcoholic: «I have the impression that the pandemic offers a good opportunity to drink – first changes at work, loneliness, isolation, then some meetings on the bench … When I wasn’t busy I was bored, only the drinking mattered. It changed my consciousness right away. It was a sense of relief, a sense of strength, of being someone else… That was IT! The meaning of life! When I wasn’t drinking, the meaning of life was gone, and the physical and mental torment was like hell on earth. That’s why I think the coronavirus epidemic will only increase the number of addicts ».

In the last week of March, sales of alcohol in Great Britain increased by 22 percent, and in the USA by 55. At the same time, the research agency Nielsen reported that Americans had bought online by as much as 243 percent since the beginning of the quarantine. more spirits.

The data flowing from the world terrified scientists who decided to monitor the situation. Dr. James Clay of the Department of Psychology at the University of Portsmouth has published an article in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet in which alerts that a sharp increase in alcohol consumption during the isolation period may lead to relapse or the development of addiction in people at risk.

Research by the Opinium agency for Alcohol Change UK has shown that one in five UK citizens who drink daily consumes more alcohol since the start of quarantine.

In addition, in the families of one in 14 Britons, increasing alcohol consumption causes higher levels of stress. Thus, 3,5 million adult UK citizens are exposed to more severe than normal conflict situations.

Meanwhile, in Poland, Nielsen’s data for the 12th week of this year (March 16-22) indicate an increase in the value of alcohol and cigarette sales by 8-10 percent. both in relation to the 11th week of this year and the 12th week of 2019. However, the spirits industry, referring to the losses resulting from the closure of hotels, bars and restaurants and the ban on gatherings, complains about the decline in demand and calls for urgent changes in the applicable law , enabling the retail sale of spirits on the Internet.

Reports of recovery from COVID-19 thanks to whiskey have been water to the alcoholic’s mill

Every now and then the media circulates reports about the miraculous properties of alcohol and nicotine in the fight against the coronavirus. This is about a Scotsman recovering from COVID-19 by sipping hot whiskey every day, about the preventive properties of pure spirit, and about the discovery that nicotine blocks the coronavirus from infecting cells.

For addicts, this is a great excuse. The alcoholic or smoker now has a convenient excuse: after all, he drinks and reaches for a cigarette for health … Building this type of rationalization is a mill for addicts who use all the information and anecdotes he hears to justify their actions.

– We have observed an interesting phenomenon – says Dr. Artur Juczyński, head of the Addiction Treatment Clinic at the Municipal Center for Health Therapy and Prophylaxis in Łódź. – People addicted to the belief that they will kill coronavirus by drinking. Yet the WHO messages emphasize that alcohol abuse increases the risk of infection.

In fact, the WHO produced a report addressing the myths about the therapeutic properties of percentages in COVID-19. The document emphasizes that the consumption of any alcohol-based drink poses a health risk. Especially compulsive drinking, which is associated with a number of diseases and disorders, leading to the impairment of the body’s immunity.

See also: WHO warns: limit alcohol during isolation

The chalice and pipe social contacts are gone, but …

Michał, an alcoholic: «I wanted to be part of the company, and alcohol was the link. It brought relief, bliss, courage, stimulated the imagination, removed all problems. It was grazing … I fell ill and waited for the next melange. All my friends were drinking. There were boasts about who would pour more beer, vodka, wine into themselves. I had a good time, and how can I not drink here if others were drinking? But it was social drinking. Friends changed and I drank more and more. And the time came when I no longer needed the company for anything ”.

An addicted person is looking for companionship, looking for opportunities. You can always find them, but the search itself has a deeper cause. So, can the compulsion to stay at home provide an opportunity to quit stimulants? The matter is not simple, because, as experts say, alcoholism is a disease of internal flight or escape from society, based on the mechanism of not confronting emotions, difficulties and problems in relationships. So if we run away, isolate ourselves, the coronavirus pandemic is conducive to such behavior.

Michał, an alcoholic: «With time, my company disappeared, alcohol remained. I drank alone every day. The addiction was so strong that the alcohol was buried everywhere. Even broken on L4 I would go out and get it. On Fridays, I stocked up more: a dozen beers, good vodka, some wine. I started drinking on Friday and finished on Sunday ».

— Every person, not only an addict, may have adaptive or even depressive disorders due to the pandemic – says the psychologist Marta Boczkowska – because she has to adapt to completely new circumstances. Addicts have it worse because their disease is associated with the compulsive regulation of emotions. Healthy people regulate difficult emotions by seeking support, talking to loved ones, sports activities, passion, and addicted people by drinking. Only alcohol makes them feel better.

– Some predicted that certain restrictions on access to stimulants related to the necessity to leave the house, queues and closing pubs or restaurants would result in a decrease in consumption – notes Dr. Artur Juczyński – but we do not see that these predictions are true. In order to go out less, addicts simply buy larger amounts at a time.

– People who drink socially, and according to clinical nomenclature risky, now have a chance for reflection – says Marta Boczkowska. – Perhaps, without an environment conducive to drinking, they will not decide to go for alcohol and drink alone?

The communities supporting the fight against addiction have moved to the Internet

Carina Ferreira-Borges, responsible at WHO, incl. for the anti-alcohol policy in Europe: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we should ask ourselves about the risk we take by locking people at home with a substance that not only harms their health, but also influences their behavior in relation to the environment, including acts violence ».

Michał, alcoholic: «My record is three days without alcohol when I tried to stop drinking alone. Back then, I didn’t admit to myself that I was an alcoholic, nor did I know anyone in A.A., and did not think that contact with someone who had stopped drinking would help me. Now I know that even a phone call can be the first step to stopping an addiction ».

There is no way out, no escape, no meetings, no companions to drink. Social isolation and confinement within four walls make the alcohol addiction extremely difficult to bear, not only for the addicted person, but also for their environment. All the fears you used to drink up before are now getting worse.

– It is not a disease that can be treated with home remedies – emphasizes Marta Boczkowska. – You should start with a conversation with a specialist. Alcoholism is a relationship disease and is treated by building a healthy therapeutic relationship. It is important that the addicted person is not left alone.

– Patients who started therapy just before the pandemic was announced, quickly fell apart – says Dr. Artur Juczyński. – Fortunately, those we looked after for six months or more do not declare that they will stop abstinence. We will be more worried about these people if the crisis lasts longer. For now, the countermeasures we have developed are working.

Therapists agree: longer isolation is the enemy of recoveryas most recovery programs are based on a community that supports and motivates the alcoholic. Social distancing helps contain the spread of the coronavirus, but also puts alcohol abusers at risk of relapse.

A telephone conversation with a relative, members of network support groups, and sober alcoholics can soothe your nerves and prevent you from reaching for a drink. If not a phone call, maybe a video chat where many AA meetings have moved. Moreover, for AA beginners, chatting over the internet can be a lot easier than meeting a group face to face.

Finding activities for yourself also helps to control your anxiety. This is especially true now, when a constant stream of reports about COVID-19 victims flows daily from all media: the Internet, newspapers, radio and television. Besides, talking about your own emotions, and if there is no listener, you can write a letter. Even the one we pick up later will act like a cathartic.

Effective mechanisms of combating addictions are developed together with the therapist

Psychologists say that addicts are people in crisis. So if someone in a crisis experiences another, which is undoubtedly a pandemic, it is very difficult for him to cope with such a burden on his own. Additionally, addicts usually suffer from comorbidities, and therefore are at risk. COVID-19 attacks the respiratory system and, for example, smokers are 14 times more likely to suffer complications and the severe course of the disease.

– The aversive message does not work well for smokers – notes Marta Boczkowska. – In 2009, it was proved that campaigns based on aversion and fear, that is, the ones we see on cigarette packets, are counterproductive. If we smoke to reduce stress or anxiety, we will smoke more after such communication. Frightened, we will automatically reach for another cigarette.

So the addiction may get worse now. The hope is that smokers will not go out for cigarettes, because the fear of coronavirus infection will be stronger than the desire to smoke.

When we come to the conclusion that it is worth quitting pipes, we can check the methods that have helped others. Call a specialist, addiction psychotherapist or even a family doctor who will help you plan the process of breaking the addiction step by step. It is not easy at all because our bodies react differently to withdrawal. Some will find it more convenient to quit smoking overnight (the most recommended method), but others may experience undesirable physiological reactions.

– Now, when we start to think about health and appreciate its value, it is easier for us to start motivational processes to quit the addiction – says Marta Boczkowska. – And later, in order not to end up with straw enthusiasm, we should seek support from a specialist.

Well-motivated, they cope with a crisis, but when the crisis is over and the remedial mechanisms weaken, there is a desire to react. Nobody is able to maintain a high level of mobilization for a long time. Feeding it is a task for the therapist.

Difficult time for families and close alcoholics

– Families of addicts, especially children, are currently in a difficult situation – says Dr. Artur Juczyński. – Their fear and feeling of helplessness are growing. After all, in a situation of prolonged closure, there aren’t many ways to release your emotions.

Unfortunately, domestic violence caused by addicts is also recorded more and more often. We react to our emotions on our loved ones, and the tensions related to the pandemic imposed on addiction and the tendency to violence are fatal. Families are terrified and do not know how to find themselves in the new situation. Previously, it was possible to leave home to work, school or meet friends, now there is a telephone.

– With each case of psychological or physical violence, members of addicted families can call addiction treatment clinics or emergency intervention centers operating in all voivodeships on XNUMX/XNUMX helplines – assures Dr. Juczyński. – They are picked up by specialists with whom you can talk and ask for help at any time. If they fail to sort out the situation remotely, they will trigger outside actions, for example by reporting the matter to the police.

Therapists expect that as soon as mental health clinics and hospitals are opened, they will be overloaded and suggest increasing the limits. They treat remote therapy as a half-measure. Although they now devote no less time to patients online than before the outbreak of the pandemic, it is only a substitute for meetings in real life.

Have a question about the coronavirus? Send them to the following address: [email protected]. You will find a daily updated list of answers HERE: Coronavirus – frequently asked questions and answers.

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