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November 23, 2021 – Beth L (not her real name), a children’s book editor, was enjoying her evening cocktail with her husband after they both got home from work and the baby was asleep. But everything changed during the pandemic.
“Suddenly there was no ‘going home from work’ because I was working from home and I was also trying to take care of an 11-month-old child,” recalls Beth, who continues to work from home most days of the week.
She started drinking earlier in the day.
“I just needed a little courage to go through the day trying to juggle the baby, edit deadlines and housework,” she says.
Beth is not alone. Several studies have shown an increase in alcohol consumption since the beginning of the pandemic.
And although alcohol use has increased among men and women, a growing number of studies show a growing trend in alcohol use among women – especially young women, according to a report by Ria Health, an online program to treat alcohol dependence.
“We studied our participants because we wanted to see how drinking patterns change because of COVID-19,” said John Mendelssohn, Ph.D., chief medical officer of Ria Health.
“We found that the largest increase was observed in women with children under 5 years of age who are at home. This population doubled or tripled the amount of drinking. “We looked at our patient population and also found a large increase in women under the age of 40 who enrolled, which is a significant number,” he said.
He drinks to cope
“Drinking was thought to mainly affect men, but that has changed,” Mendelssohn said. “Grandma’s drinking universe was more limited. “Women were not allowed to vote or have jobs – it was the ‘male world’ – and women’s expectations were different in those days.”
Today, women are not only a key part of the workforce, but also “usually those in charge of the house and children, which increases stress levels,” he said.
Much of the use of alcohol by today’s women is caused by stress.
“There’s a myth that heavy drinking happens mostly in social situations, but most of our patients drink alone,” Mendelssohn said.
During the pandemic, the combination of isolation, work-related stress and parenting fell most heavily on women.
“The combination of trying to figure out what to do with the kids, keeping up the work, social isolation and increased responsibility is a really difficult thing,” he says.
“There is evidence that the prevalence of women’s drinking is already increasing before the pandemic,” said Katie Witkiewicz, MD, professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
But “it seems that the pandemic has affected women the most, in terms of experiencing more suffering, and since drinking to deal with distress is associated with stronger drinking, we could expect more women to drink to cope. with distress, ”says Witkiewicz, who is also a scientist at the Center for Alcohol, Substance Use and Addiction (CASAA) at the University of New Mexico.
The stress “became almost unbearable,” says Beth. “One day the baby was crying, I was cooking, I put the jar of spaghetti sauce on and I had an article to edit. So what if it was 10 in the morning? I needed a drink now”
She says, “There’s a great rock between 5:00 and 10:00 in the morning, where you can’t call it a cocktail anymore, and I crossed that rock.”
“Mother’s juice” culture.
Gillian Titz, a biochemist recovering from alcoholism, says alcohol use has become more normal during the pandemic as a way for women – especially young mothers – to cope with the stressors of being a parent and often wife and working woman, during the pandemic.
“In my experience, women usually drink for negative reasons – to avoid anxiety, stress or to deal with bad marriages, not for positive reasons, such as socializing with friends, and this type of drinking is usually done on their own,” says Titz. , which is the host and creator of Soberly powered podcast.
She notes that during a pandemic, you can find more wine glasses, coffee cups and similar items with memes like “My kids are whining, so I’m wine.” A TV commercial depicts a mother opening a secret mini fridge in the bathroom to drink juice and champagne.
“Hiding in the drinking bath is a warning sign, and there’s nothing funny about it,” Titz said, noting that normalizing secret drinking as a way to deal with maternal stress can make women less able to realize that have a problem with alcohol and get help.
Getting help
“One of the common myths about alcohol use is that most people deny having a problem or refuse treatment,” Mendelssohn said. “In fact, epidemiological data and our observations show that if people know that they have developed a new problem and are aware of it and have good treatment options, they will pursue them.
People acknowledge their problem and seek help for various reasons. For example, Mendelssohn says that some patients sought help when they stopped remembering conversations with family members.
Beth realized she had a problem with alcohol when she dropped the baby.
“Fortunately, it happened on the carpet bedroom floor and the baby is fine, but it shook me and I had to admit that I had a problem and needed help,” she said.
Witkiewitz suggests starting with “drinking self-assessment and monitoring” and recommends information from the CDC.
“I suggest setting limits and reducing alcohol consumption – for example, reducing one to two drinks per occasion or reducing the number of days you drink each week,” she says.
Other reduction tips can be found at: https://abqresearch.org/tools-for-drinking-reductions/.
Recognizing the problem is the first step. The question is where to turn next. Fortunately, there are many options.
Medication and coaching: the Ria model
When Debbie K. (not her real name), an IT project manager, wife and mother of a teenage daughter, started working from home during the pandemic, she started drinking earlier in the day and will continue to he does it until he goes to bed.
“This pattern happened often, and I realized I had to stop the habit,” she said.
Debbie turned to Ria, which uses evidence-based telemedicine, recovery training, medical counseling, support groups and digital tools – including a blood alcohol testing app and mobile device – and customized her approach to the needs of every customer. The program is completely remote and is covered by some insurers, Mendelssohn said.
Debbie liked the individualized training, the group sessions, and the medical component.
“Having a check-in with a coach and medical supervision makes it more of a structured program, a system I needed,” she said.
She also liked that she didn’t have to aim for abstinence.
“One of the reasons I didn’t want to go to Alcoholics Anonymous was that you should stop drinking right away, which may be best for some people, but I liked that I could slowly reduce my drinking over time. time and I can continue to take medication and only two drinks. It is not cut and dried, “says Debbie.
Reduction and moderation do not work for everyone, says Titz.
“I tried moderation for 5 years and obviously this was not the way for me. Some people have to give up completely, “she said.
Without ball and chain
Beth found that AA and SmartRecovery – both of which she had access to online – were useful.
“I like to know that alcoholism is a disease and thousands of people have been able to overcome it and get rid of the ball and the chain of alcoholism,” she said. “I went to online meetings and found a sponsor. I have a new community of people like me and we get along. ”
Tietz also found AA useful, as did Luckiest Club, an online support forum.
She also mentions an important resource, Sober Mom Squad, which offers “mother-to-mother support.”
More resources and support groups can be found on the American Society for Addiction Medicine website. Witkiewitz recommends several options, including Ria and Checkup & Choices.
Titz says psychotherapy has helped her the most.
“For years, I told myself that I had never drunk to deal with something, that I was not trying to escape injury or failure; but when I finally really gave up, I was angry and all sorts of feelings came up, ”she says. “I realized that I had used alcohol to numb those feelings and that I had never learned strategies for dealing with anything. The therapy helped me understand why I felt this way, what repulsed me and how to cope.
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