COVID-19, Mental Health Crisis-Suicide and Addiction

COVID-19, Mental Health Crisis-Suicide and Addiction
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COVID-19, Mental Health Crisis-Suicide and Addiction
COVID-19 is a global pandemic that has caused critical health and social challenges upon its emergence. By March 2020, the pandemic had already impacted 202 countries killing 23, 495 individuals (Xiong et al., 2020). The disease spread rapidly in the world due to the inability to combat it caused by high contagious nature. The key social problem that the disease promoted is mental issues due to addiction and addictive behaviors. Individuals increasingly experience mental issues such as sleep disturbances, phobia, anxiety, and panic (Zhai et al., 2020). Besides, the lockdown orders led to different addictive behaviors due to reducing interaction and social engagement (Rajkumar, 2020). It also led to job losses and increased poverty, thus causing stress and different social problems. Therefore, COVI-19 is not any normal health problem; its social consequences outweigh the health-related consequences. It is advisable to consider social structures during the treatment or intervention plans to curb the pandemic effects. It is also necessary to focus on better strategies to restore the social impacts of the pandemic. Besides, the order to stay at home isolated individuals from the community, thus promoting loneliness and poor thoughts such as drug abuse (Lee et al., 2020). Due to restricted social activities, it is easy for different populations to engage in substance abuse due to a socially conducive environment. Besides, the addicted used individualized patterns to execute their agendas without necessarily engaging in social activities due to the conducive environment (Brodeur et al., 2022). The paper examines the addictions and addictive behaviors such as suicide caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 Pandemic and Addictions
Addiction is the major social impact of COVID-19. It is a condition whereby an individual is exposed to compulsive behavior regardless of the negative consequences that it imposes on them (Killgore et al., 2020b). It is accompanied by psychological and neurobiological factors that adversely impact individuals and limit them from successfully engaging in specific socialization patterns. Addiction is detrimental since it results in disconnectedness from society and the inability to counter social pressure. Addiction takes two major forms: behavioral change and impaired cognitive control. The two elements impose threats to the populations, thus inhibiting them from successfully participating in societal activities. Different addiction types existed from the COVI-19 pandemic.
According to CDC data, an increase to 13% of United States citizens was exposed to substance abuse (Yang & Ma, 2021). Increased overdose has also been recorded from the onset of the pandemic. Based on the ODMAP reporting system, an 18% increase in substance abuse increased globally, leading to adverse conditions (Dubey et al., 2020). A similar trend has been recorded since 2020, with more population heavily using opioid-related substances. According to Ornell et al. (2020), alcohol abuse is a major type of addiction that resulted from the emergence of COVID-19 leading to different social problems. A spike in drug use has also been noticed due to synthetic opioids. The increased addiction rate results from a positive correlation between COVID-19 and drug use. The two drugs are highly addictive and lead to numerous health problems.
The experts identified that increased use of the identified elements emerged from different strains caused by the pandemic, including loneliness and economic stress. Whenever people are isolated and stressed, they rush in making unhealthy decisions that impact them adversely, such as substance abuse leading to addiction.
Additionally, an increase in substance addiction has also resulted from poor management styles of stress during the pandemic. Kar et al. (2020) identified that many individuals lack adequate skills in stress management. Exposure to the pandemic increased the stress rate in different populations. Therefore, the main option left was to reduce stress through substance use leading to increasing incidents of substance use promoting addiction. An isolated approach to drug use further causes the addiction. Zvolensky et al. (2020) noted that people are likely to experience overdoses while using the drugs alone since they do not receive adequate guidance on the appropriate measures to curb drug use. For instance, there were adequate approaches to administering naloxone, a major drug used to reverse opioid poisoning. Therefore, individuals exposed to opioids either experience death or different forms of addiction. During the initial stages of COVID-19, people find it complex to address challenges caused by opioid use due to limited services and lockdowns, making it difficult for people to deal with mental issues and addiction. Besides, the physicians concentrated on the pandemic management living out individuals struggling with different addictions such as opioids (Mallet et al., 2021). The initial stages of the disease made the nurses ignore some minor mental and addiction issues leading to long-term and adverse impacts.
According to Liese and Monley (2021), the pandemic altered the treatment recovery programs leading to substance misuse and addiction. Besides, job loss and increased unemployment caused by lockdown exposed different populations to substance abuse. For instance, by 2020 June, 39% of the American population's lose their jobs, forcing them to be isolated in their homes, making them easily exposed to substance abuse (Killgore et al., 2021). The financial stress and adequate time exposed them to illicit drugs. The problem also made substance use disorder or addiction a critical problem to manage and limit completely. Access to the healthcare facility is a significant problem that heavily impacts many individuals due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the addiction policy forum, depression is a significant factor that contributes to the misuse of drugs and addiction and pandemic (Janulis et al., 2021). Most of the populations, especially the youths, claimed that they were depressed due to pandemics; thus, the only option was to relieve stress by using different substances. Youths claimed us regardless of the adverse effects of alcohol; it was the only way to restore their normal state and overcome stress. Therefore, depression and the inability to access healthcare are critical issues that have exposed youths to substance abuse and addiction.
Alcohol use is the major cause of addiction during the pandemic. Due to lockdowns, financial difficulties, and isolation, alcohol became an option for different individuals. Mellis et al. (2021) identified a positive correlation between alcohol use and stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the closure of many bars and restaurants, people still found their way and accessed alcohol. During the peak of COVID-19, approximately, the world recorded a 54% increase in the sales of alcohol. There was also bulk purchase of alcohol with the consumers going for new brands. Alcohol became an essential component in many households leading to addiction. For instance, working at home allowed an individual to access alcohol at any time of need leading to frequent use and addiction. Based on statists, locked downs led to 75% of alcoholics consuming it once a day (Nunes et al., 2021). With such a rate, the outcome is addiction and poor mental health. Heavy drinking occurred among all genders, thus jeopardizing mental health. Therefore, alcoholism is a major source of addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more psychological interventions are needed to curb such instances in the future.
Despite using alcohol to reduce stress, the approach is temporary with adverse consequences to normal society. Instead of resolving long-term stress exposure, alcohol leads to depression and anxiety, thus promoting binge drinking (Cummings et al., 2021). Most alcohol abusers develop substance use disorders (SUDs), limiting them from normal body activities and progress. It is also essential to note that exposure to long-term drinking from the COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacts mental health by jeopardizing qualitative thinking and reasoning. It interferes with the individuals' psychological stability, leading to increased mobility and health problems.
Additionally, heavy drinking has psychological impacts by interfering with the neurotransmitters' affecting. These are key brain elements that determine human association and activities. They determine all the individual's activities, including decision-making and thinking (Gracia et al., 2021). Therefore, their alteration by continuous drinking leads to changes in the brain, leading to addiction. It also creates the urge of alcoholism, making individuals be in a state whereby they cannot work without alcohol in their system. Consistent alcoholism stimulates the brain reward region, thus creating the urge of alcoholism in the system. Therefore, heavy alcohol drinking during the pandemic detrimentally exposes the victims to mental complexities.
Family stress is a critical factor during the COVID-19 pandemic leading to addictive behaviors. Due to job loss and unemployment, many families were exposed to difficulties catering to their basic needs. The problem became consistent, thus creating an atmosphere of drug exposure and misuse. For instance, the families who relied on businesses were extremely impacted by lockdowns leading to financial difficulties. Due to financial difficulties meeting family expectations became difficult for many parents forced to escape the threat by engaging in substance abuse. According to Joseph et al. (2021), the pandemic forced the government to close schools forcing all children at home, thus causing stress to the patients. The children had to uphold online learning regulation, thus directly engaging their parents in facilitating online learning. The parents had to manage their children by ensuring social distancing, which is stressful for most parents. Importantly, it is necessary to note that most of the parents' activities were new and had to be a source of stress. Family stress forced some parents to look for other perceived ways of reducing stress, such as using depressants. However, since most depressants are addictive, parents become addicted to some of the drugs. Therefore, it is justifiable that COVID-19 exposed many populations to different addiction types, thus jeopardizing mental health.
Negative Mental Health Crisis
COVID-19 pandemic has exposed different populations to a mental health crisis. Mental health is a critical factor that has heavily impacted different populations in contemporary society, resulting in suicidal ideation. By 2021, approximately 41.1% of adults indicated depressive and anxiety disorders (Pirkis et al., 2021). Suicide rates rise due to substance abuse to resolve issues such as family stress caused by the closure of different hotels and job losses. Notably, the pandemic exposes the many individuals who initially had mental issues to extremely poor environments. For instance, individuals who suffered chronic illness indicated higher mental health problems due to COVID-19 severity (Niederkrotenthaler et al., 2022). The data shows that mental problems are a critical issue, when not timely addressed, leading to poor mental health in society, thus affecting further generations. Most individuals who suffered COVID-19 also had a higher possibility of mood disorders and anxieties (Lixia et al., 2022). The data indicates that the individuals exposed to the pandemic became mentally ill due to fear.
Mental distress is also a common mental health crisis noted from the COVID-19 pandemic impacting different populations and causing increas...