What is a heavy drinker to do during COVID19 lockdown? Most people would say, “well, so what, just don’t drink!”. We have all seen the pictures of massive line ups for liquor stores as they were about to be closed due to COVID19. Why risk exposure to a virus with no cure that can kill your loved ones just for some alcohol? Most of us fall into the trap of looking at substance use disorders through the lens of it being a question of personal control; if they have the will power, they could stop drinking. Even those that suffer from addictions fall into this very same trap.
Couples come to my marriage retreats devastated and full of blame and shame because they see one of the spouses drinking as a moral and personal failure; “if you loved your family, you would stop drinking.” It is heartbreaking to see marriages on the verge of divorce due to a treatable condition if only we could get past the stigma.
Nora Volkow states in the May 11th Scientific American Blog that little progress has been made in removing the stigma around substance use disorders. People with addiction continue to be blamed for their disease. Even though medicine long ago reached a consensus that addiction is a complex brain disorder with behavioural components, the public and even many in healthcare and the justice system continue to view it as a result of moral weakness and flawed character. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/addressing-the-stigma-that-surrounds-addiction/
