Navigating Alcohol Misuse and Recovery
Each year in the United States, close to 30 million adults and approximately 800,000 adolescents live with alcohol use disorder and its subsequent mental and physical effects on their health. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, those numbers have risen due to pandemic-related stressors that can lead to alcohol misuse.听
鈥淎lcohol consumption among adults increased by 14% from 2019 to 2020,鈥 , vice chair for Addiction Psychiatry at 91麻豆精品 and the program director for Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. 鈥淲omen, in particular, exhibited a 41% increase in alcohol consumption over a 2019 baseline.鈥听
There鈥檚 no specific amount of alcohol you have to consume to be diagnosed with alcohol use disorder. Rather, doctors look at certain behavioral criteria, including if you are:听
- Drinking more than intended听
- Drinking that interferes with daily life activities, or that causes you to miss out on events you enjoy or spending time with people you love听
- Often drinking to the point of being physically ill afterward听
- Finding yourself in unsafe or illegal situations during or after drinking (such as drinking and driving)听
- Having your thoughts consumed by alcohol听
- Trying to abstain from alcohol but being unable to do so听
Regardless of if you鈥檙e living with a fully developed addiction or are on the fringe of one beginning stress left unchecked can lead to people turning to alcohol to help them cope.听
鈥淚 think self-medication and the self-medication hypothesis of addiction helps us understand that a lot of the reason that alcohol use becomes problematic is to help relieve stress,鈥 says Dr. Avery. 鈥淎nd as a society, we've been under a ton of stress these last couple years.鈥听
Mixing Alcohol and Medication听
One notable danger of alcohol misuse is the effects of consuming alcohol and taking certain medications together. You鈥檝e probably noticed warnings on the labels of your medication telling you not to mix those meds with al