PEORIA, Ill. — While physical health has been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health experts have been worried about the impact the crisis has had on individuals’ psyches.
Of particular concern have been those who struggle with drugs and alcohol, said UnityPoint Health-UnityPlace President Dr. Ted Bender.
“One of the ways you can help keep the disease of addiction at bay or in remission is through contact,” said Bender.
“For people who are in recovery, one of the worst enemies is isolation, and we have a situation of forced isolation.”
Bender said groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous have adapted in-person meetings to virtual settings, and while they’re still a good support resource, he expressed concern those meetings don’t provide a seamless substitution for the direct human contact in-person meetings provide.
“My guess would be it’s not nearly the attendance you’d see live and in person,” he surmised.
“Some people I know who are in recovery who are utilizing the online meetings as much as possible have told me how they’re struggling. Even some guys who have 10, 20 years of sobriety.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a yearly report on the previous year’s overdose deaths for the whole country.
Final data on overdose-related deaths during the pandemic therefore won’t be available until the middle of 2021, but Bender said because of localized numbers made available by area health departments, he’s concerned about what those national figures will look like.
“There are areas across the country seeing significant increases in overdose deaths,” he said.
“Ohio keeps popping up, and they’ve had tremendous challenges in that area.”
Ironically, a small subset of addicts may have seen their lives saved when liquor stores were deemed essential.
“A sudden withdrawal from very high alcohol use can be deadly,” he said.
“For individuals in that situation where they are daily, heavy drinkers, they would have definitely been in the position where, if their alcohol supply were cut off suddenly, the risk of at least seizures — but possibly worse — would have been higher.”
In lieu of the normal outside distractions, Bender recommended addicts focus on the basics, which he said are applicable to everyone, addict or not.
“I’ve told my patients over many years if I could fix three things with a magic wand when you walk into my office, it would be regular sleep, regular exercise, and a healthy diet,” he said.
“If this [pandemic] wasn’t a call to action for United States citizens to start taking better care of themselves, I don’t know what is. So much depression is alleviated through regular sleep and good exercise and being healthy.
“It’s certainly not the whole battle, but it’s a huge step in the right direction.”
He said if a person is having an extra difficult time avoiding the temptation of abusing substances, the opportunity exists for them to attend multiple virtual meetings in a day.
“I did a quick search just to see what I could find in Peoria, and I found 11 meetings today, alone,” he said.
A daily schedule of meetings for those struggling with alcohol can be found HERE.
Those who’d like information on Narcotics Anonymous meetings may click HERE.
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