Family get-togethers, anticipated to bring joy and celebration, are often brought to a screeching halt when you or a family member does something foolish or inappropriate while under the influence of alcohol or another substance.
Evidence suggesting that Americans would turn to alcohol for stress relief relating to the global COVID-19 pandemic emerged early in the crisis, with Nielsen reporting a 54 percent increase in national alcohol sales during the third week of March, when governments started initiating stay-at-home and related measures.
While few young Americans probably know that former First Lady Nancy Reagan coined the “Just Say No” slogan used to encourage youth to refrain from engaging in illegal recreational drug use, some may be taking the slogan to heart.
The UK Telegraph recently asked, “Why does tolerating alcohol become so much harder when we’re middle-aged?” To answer that, we thought we’d first examine middle-age itself. What is this mysterious phase of our existence, when the bloom of youth has faded and our bodies begin to warn us that we’re not immortal?
Prescription opioids, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine tend to lead headlines with regard to addiction-related news stories, belying the fact that alcohol addiction is not only much more prevalent in America, but also a bigger killer and threat to overall health.
Alcohol and drug use spiked, but not only among those who already faced problems. For many Americans, they suddenly found themselves developing a problem they didn’t have before.
Substance abuse can sometimes be an attempt to self-medicate an issue such as anxiety or depression. Often, they occur so closely together it is hard to distinguish which came first. Like the chicken or the egg, did the substance abuse cause anxiety or depression or did the depression and anxiety lead to substance abuse?
The impacts of trauma during childhood often linger on into adulthood and can lead to the development of psychological problems and/or addictions. Indeed, research has established such a firm link between childhood trauma and substance abuse that some treatment facilities now offer concurrent treatment of addiction and any underlying trauma.
Regardless of their age, social status, race or education level, females are statistically more prone to experiencing traumatic events precisely because of their gender. To cope, females may tend to develop substance dependence.
As the Covid-19 pandemic swept the entire world and invaded towns, cities and rural regions of the United States, alcohol sales and consumption also skyrocketed throughout the nation. With stay-at-home orders, job loss, and social distancing, stress is common. Alcohol has long been a socially acceptable way to relax and wind down, and now more than ever people are searching for stress relief.