Addiction in pandemic
Impact of in-person treatment difficult to replicate on computer
Studies are showing that various addictions have been on the increase.
Jackie Ré, who runs a substance-use disorder facility in New Jersey, gathered the 12 female residents of her center in the living room on March 27 and told them that the coronavirus outbreak had forced the center to limit contact with the outside world.
There was an immediate outcry: The women already felt disconnected and did not want their sense of isolation exacerbated, Ré said.
Within the next six months, nine left the program at Haley House in Blairstown against staff advice, and all but one relapsed.
Addiction is often referred to as a disease of isolation, and overcoming that challenge has only become more difficult during a pandemic that has forced people indoors — in some cases to live lonely lives, with drugs and alcohol as a way to cope .
Several studies have shown that binge drinking has increased during the pandemic, and a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited a “concerning acceleration” of opioid-related overdoses last year.
At the same time, many treatment centers have closed down or limited in-person visits.
Some centers have turned virtual or shut down because of virus outbreaks, while others struggle to retain residents after having been compelled to restructure their programming or eliminate visits from family and ban trips outside the facility.
A recent survey of 165 centers by the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, a nonprofit organization that represents hundreds of centers, found that 43 percent had to reduce patient capacity, nearly a third saw a decrease in patient retention and 10 percent shut down because of the pandemic. The majority of the closures have been in the Northeast, according to the association, because of the outbreak’s early concentration in New York City.
“In the 80-year history since addiction treatment began, we’ve never experienced anything as challenging as this,” said Marvin Ventrell, chief executive of the NAATP. “You have to put people in social settings to heal, and COVID conspires a
In New York City, the Hazelden Betty Ford Centers, which offer outpatient services, switched to entirely virtual care in mid-march. At first, the organization scrambled to remake a program that had relied so heavily on in-person gatherings.
Staff had to identify a virtual platform compliant with substance-abuse confidentiality regulations. They also had to accommodate patients who did not have internet-connected devices or stable Wi-fi connections.
Still, the emotional connections formed through in-person treatment are difficult to replicate on the computer. A recent study published in Drug and Alcohol Review found that a sense of loneliness can amplify the risk of drug and alcohol abuse in people with substanceuse disorders.