New research helping pinpoint what leads to problematic drinking

Reporter: Veronica Marshall
Published: Updated:
Man drinks alcohol. (Credit: CBS News).

Mental health experts say anxiety and stress caused by the coronavirus, along with social isolation, are causing people to self-medicate with alcohol.

In fact, sales jumped 55 percent in March, according to Nielsen.

“There’s no doubt that there has been an increase in use of both drugs and alcohol,” said Dr. Paul Simeone, vice president of mental and behavioral health at Lee Health.

Simeone said it’s because the COVID-19 pandemic acts as a trigger for a lot of people in recovery.

“Drugs and alcohol are ways of self-medicating, you know, painful effects, painful emotions,” he said.

Social distancing rules have also kept people isolated and away from their support systems, but there’s new research that could make a big difference for people with alcohol use disorders and problematic drinking.

“We want to improve our understand​ing of the biology of problematic alcohol use and alcohol dependence. We’re now able to identify 29 individual risk loci for alcohol use disorder,” said Dr. Joel Gelernter, director of the division of human genetics (psychiatry) at the Yale School of Medicine.

Gelernter said his team found new genetic markers for alcohol use problems and the results of his study could help in times like these because alcohol use disorders could be managed through medication.

“With new pathways and new implicated risk genes, our colleagues who do drug development might very well consider some of the genes we’ve implicated as possible therapeutic targets or pharmacological targets,” he said.

Until then, to help people who need it now, Simeone said his team is adapting.

“In health care, what has saved us is the burgeoning move towards telehealth,” he said. “I think that that’s going to change health care delivery for good, which I think is a good thing.”

So those in need know help is just one click, call or appointment away.

The danger of alcohol abuse during the pandemic doesn’t only affect people with substance abuse in their past.

Simeone said COVID-19 has made it easier to make drinking a part of your day and it doesn’t take long to create bad habits.

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