People drink alcohol to cope with stressful situations, it has been shown in various types of research that people in the United States of America tend to consume more alcohol after terrorist attacks. In this way, they are trying to cope with the situation.
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Doctor’s Warning
According to an article published in the US Medical News Today on November 8, 2020, the doctor should not consume alcohol in excess and resort to it as a way to fight against the myriad of stressors produced by the Coronavirus pandemic.
This article was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, to monitor and support people during the covid pandemic situation and change their behavior towards alcohol consumption.
Basic Strategy
The people with alcohol use disorder are more likely to tend to use alcohol during the stressful situation and fight with emotions of a traumatic event
According to this context, the current coronavirus situation may be the main cause of the increase in alcohol consumption, the effects of this pandemic situation are not for a single event but will be prolonged and can expose people to continuous trauma potentially.
The current situation of the covid 19 pandemics is the main cause of the different types of stressors in people that attract them to alcohol to cope.
Alcohol Consumption During COVID-19
The pandemic not only affected social and economic life but also loss of health and increased pain from stressful life, which disrupted interpersonal support and threatened people’s work, forcing many people to find a solution and finally turn them into alcoholics.
According to the researchers, people in the United States of America did not tend to drink more, especially women.
New research has shown that people in the United States have increased alcohol consumption during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the same studies were found in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Effects of Alcohol on Health
Alcohol consumption is not good for your health, it causes many types of health disorders, especially in pregnant women and adolescents.
Alcohol consumption is the main cause of changes in behavior and mood, damages the pancreas and liver, increases the risk of heart stroke, different types of cancer, and many other diseases by weakening the immune system, as noted by the National Institute on Alcohol and Abuse and Alcoholism.
It is important to encourage residents to find another alternative to cope with the stressors of this pandemic situation, and other effective ways to overcome alcohol disorders need to be found.
Solutions
There are many suggestions for solutions that can help people reduce alcohol dependence during COVID-19 pandemics, including preparing health care services to provide support during the pandemic with alcohol abuse.
Early intervention and identification of excessive alcohol use in patients is the major key to addressing this problem. Director of Addiction and Alcoholism Health and Clinical Services at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Dr. Shely F. Greenfield says:
The government also has to change federal regulations as it did in telehealth, and there have been many improvements in health care, she noted. And there should be a public awareness of binge drinking in the pandemic, as well as providing different kinds of alternatives to deal with the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemics.
Healthcare professionals should increase the detection of alcohol disorder when someone contacts health care services. People should have access to primary health insurance to cover the costs of medical treatment due to the increase in unemployed people in the pandemic.
