A Pandemic within a Pandemic
Day 1327.
Relapses are through the roof. Overdoses are through the roof. Fentanyl is rife.
I’m not surprised, but the interview with Tim Ryan I am reading confirms that the opioid crisis is far from being in lockdown, it’s running wild.
Tim Ryan reports that the rehab.com website traffic is up 382% in the past 30 days!
Calls to mental health hotlines are up 800%.
Alcohol sales in the USA are up 250%
Anti anxiety prescriptions are up 28%.
I know this to be true even in the mildest experience amongst my own friends.
Human beings are social creatures. Rightly or wrongly, we need each other. Not on zoom, but in the flesh.
The magic of the AA and NA rooms, of ‘being with your tribe’ works.
The same with grief groups.
The true being ‘in it together’ works.
Eye contact, a smile, laughter.
The healing magic of a hug.
The healing magic of a hand to hold.
It’s all forbidden in the time of Covid.
People are trapped alone at home with their demons - and ‘alone’ doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no one else in the house, just that you are not with the one’s that can meet your needs.
The Sandy Hook helpline is overwhelmed with calls from children trapped with parents drinking, using and/or abusing them, with no respite from school or friends.
People have lost their jobs and along with it their sense of purpose, their dignity, their income, their savings, their hope. Anxiety is through the roof. They are running out of money and they can’t pay their rent or their mortgages and they are losing their homes and their health insurance.
And all this compounded by the isolation that keeps these anxieties in the dark and their secrets too.
Key workers and emergency responders are all run ragged and are at greater risk of infection and their PTSD is up.
Confusion about getting access to help is rife enough without losing medical insurance or a lack of clarity of what medical and rehab facilities are and aren’t open.
But hey! The liquor stores are still open, they are considered vital.
The drugs are still available. The dealers will deliver. This is a great opportunity for them. Ryan reports that they saw the opportunity and upped their supply.
There’s no one around to see what you are getting deeper into. There’s no one to say “Hey! Don’t you think you are over doing it a bit?” Or “You’re having a drink already? - it’s only ....”
The substances have always been there, they are going nowhere..... It’s the help that’s gone.
The magic of human contact, so vital .....is forbidden.