Addiction After COVID-19: Understanding the Aftermath of Severe Stress

Why Addiction Increased During the Pandemic

Many addiction counselors will tell you that addiction can be driven by a sense of emptiness and despair. Using a substance helps numb these unbearable feelings.

Unfulfilled emotional needs and chronic stress are frequent reasons for substance use. The pandemic has provided a perfect storm for increased addiction.

Humans need social interaction and support in order to weather life’s storms. We need contact with each other for good mental health. But the pandemic left people isolated and alone during a scary, uncertain time. Losing a job and experiencing deep financial stress piles even more fodder onto the fire. It’s easy to see how this leads to addiction.

Steps to Rebuilding Your Life

This may sound very familiar to you. You may feel like your entire life has collapsed as a result of the stress of the pandemic. Substance abuse has become the only way you know how to get through. Even though the end of the pandemic is on the horizon, you know that it won’t mean much to you with a powerful addiction running your life.

There is hope, though. Much knowledge has been gained about addiction and resilience in the last decades.

Addiction Treatment

While stigma still remains around addiction and substance use, it’s important to remember that times have changed. New treatment options are available. New counseling approaches have proven to be very effective.

If you need to rebuild your life as the pandemic comes to an end, seeking treatment for your addiction is an important first step. Both teletherapy and telemedicine are readily available. You can seek therapy from wherever you are. Medically supported addiction treatment options have also adapted due to the pandemic.

Emotional Support

Isolation and loneliness are cornerstones of the pandemic. But as you begin to rebuild your life, restoring old connections and finding new ones will be vitally important.

Online support groups have become a popular option for people recovering from addiction. You can find them through various AA-affiliated groups as well as other programs.

If your personal relationships have suffered as a result of the pandemic, a therapist can help you identify the best way to begin restoring those.

Life Structure

The pandemic pulled the rug out from underneath our daily lives. As humans, we need structure. We need some amount of predictability; we need to know, in general, what to expect each day. But life became unpredictable and unstructured for many of us during the pandemic. Job loss, virtual schooling, and loss of regular social and recreational activities left us restless and untethered.

Rebuilding a post-pandemic life will be easier if you are able to create structure for yourself. Even if you aren’t working, you can design your days intentionally. Here are some examples: schedule a daily walk, a regular cycle of chores, and a set number of hours to look for employment.

It won’t be easy at first. Yet, with time and consistency, it will start to get better.

If rebuilding your life seems impossible after living through the severe stress of the pandemic, please reach out to a therapist for additional help. As experienced counselors, we’ve worked with many people as they build a new normal after the pandemic. If you’re ready to do the same, please read our page about Addiction Counseling and contact our office soon.