STAY STRONG
Addiction Recovery During the Era of COVID-19
How can the era of COVID-19 motivate recovery from addiction?
The pandemic of COVID-19 has surprisingly led so many people to achieve motivation, to conquer addictions that they might have suffered from for five years, 10 years, 20 years. As people have spent more time with their families, have spent more time at home, they have wanted to experience those relationships in much richer ways. Richer ways that are stolen from them by drugs, by alcohol, by sometimes behavioral addictions. The way that I can help take people from having motivation to actually having success in conquering their addictions is through using evidence-based solutions. The most evidence-based solution in addiction treatment is called the menu. What is the menu? The menu is just like a menu that you might have-- You might remember from when we could go to restaurants. And the menu has choices. Those choices can involve meetings with a doctor. They can involve meetings with a psychotherapist. They can involve meeting with groups of people who are suffering from similar addictions as you are. It can mean meetings in self help groups like alcoholics anonymous, narcotics anonymous, over-eaters anonymous. And presenting the patient with that menu so that they can make the choices that they feel are gonna be most suitable for them. Some people get very intimidated by groups. So group psychotherapy would not be the right choice. Other people like to sit back and listen and see what has helped other people. Certainly group psychotherapy would be ideal for that individual. Most importantly, Montefiore health system and other providers are offering this menu all through televideo. From your own home, you can access all of these options. And I hope that you will. And I hope that if someone in your family is suffering, I hope that you will help them find their own menu that will help them get better. During this pandemic, during this unprecedented time, I hope that you and your families are staying strong and will emerge healthier and stronger.