STAY STRONG
Behavioral Addiction During the Era of COVID-19
How is the era of COVID-19 affecting behavioral addiction?
Behavioral addictions are seeing a tremendous spike during this era of COVID-19. What is a behavioral addiction? A behavioral addiction is simply when you become addicted to something you do with your body, rather than something that you put in your body, like we think of classically with addictions, such as alcohol or drugs. Why are behavioral addictions, such as problematic gambling, over eating, gaming addiction, internet addiction, why are they spiking during COVID-19? Well, so many of the healthy activities, that have brought us so much pleasure throughout our lives, such as being around friends, going out to restaurants, going to see a movie or a sporting event, have been taken away from us temporarily. In their place many of us have developed behaviors, which are not so healthy or not so healthy if we do them too much and can't control them. Very fortunately Montefiore health system has help for every individual suffering from a behavioral addiction through Televideo visits. Well, addictions are expanding, the number of people suffering is expanding, through technology, Montefiore health system is able to reach unprecedented numbers of people who are looking for help. And this help is not just the ability to sit down one on one with an physician who has expertise, but also the ability to meet with therapists to engage in group therapy. I hope that you and your family will seek the help that you may need, if one of you is developing a behavioral addiction, and I hope that we all stay strong together during COVID-19.