 - The whole COVID-19 pandemic has provided increased stress on all people and largely exacerbated issues in patients with psychological addiction disorders
- Additionally, the increased anxiety and isolation of individuals has also exacerbated patient conditions
- This relates directly to treatment as due to COVID-19 guidelines, a lot of patients who would once receive in person treatment or regular psychological appointments are no longer able to
- There has also been an increase in activity in risky behavior that is addiction related, such as increase in online gambling and alcohol consumption, which could in turn create more patients which cannot currently find effective treatment


Ohio State University, Columbus

- This paper addresses the how COVID-19 has impacted addiction treatment as well as the provision of services that typically coincide with addiction treatment
- Overall, there has been mass disruption to the system previously in place to assist in the treatment of patient addiction
- Some of the specific categories of addiction treatment that have been affected include services for patients suffering from alcohol dependence syndrome, behavioral addictions (gambling disorder), and prescription as well as over-the-counter medication addiction


Addiction psychiatry and COVID-19: impact on patients and service provision

Columb, D., Hussain, R., & O’Gara, C. (2020). Addiction psychiatry and COVID-19: Impact on patients and service provision. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 37(3), 164-168. doi:10.1017/ipm.2020.47

URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/irish-journal-of-psychological-medicine/article/addiction-psychiatry-and-covid19-impact-on-patients-and-service-provision/160E5C739C518251C7B82CE42D927055


COVID-19 Impact on Addiction Treatment

- Social distancing guidelines have severely strained a lot of the traditional services provided to addiction patients
- In this vein, many specific types of therapies, such as group therapy, that have been seen to be most affective are no longer viable options as they put all participants at risk
- And even in continually active groups, the number of participants must be cut back which therefore could affect the level of care for patients
- A viable option to this is video-call based therapies, however at this time many institutions may not have the resources for this to be entirely possible
- Patients have also been largely forced to take a more active role in their treatment, specifically with the supplying patients with the proper medications and dosages which may have been prepared by staff prior


Learn Before

Related