Alcoholics on the rise in Yorkshire due to lockdown

More alcoholics than ever before have admitted themselves into rehab treatment facilities in Yorkshire during the four- month peak of the Coronavirus crisis, figures from the UK Addiction Treatment Group have revealed.

The figures show how, between April 1 and August 1, 73 per cent of all admissions into UKAT’s Bradford based rehab, Oasis Recovery, were for alcohol addiction. In comparison, during the same four months of 2019, 67 per cent of all admissions were for alcohol addiction.

Between April 1 and August 1 last year, Oasis Recovery in Bradford admitted 73 people into treatment, of which 49 were for alcohol addiction.

In the same four months this year, the centre admitted 95 people and of those, 69 were for alcohol, demonstrating the significant shift in people’s relationship with alcohol during the Coronavirus crisis.

“The Coronavirus crisis has affected people in different ways,” explains UKAT’s Group Head of Treatment, Nuno Albuquerque. “For some, a way of coping with the pandemic would have been to turn to alcohol, or to drink more alcohol than they did previously in order to feel calm about the unfolding and devastating situation happening across the world.

“But it’s important to remember that alcohol is a depressant and regular, heavy drinking interferes with chemicals in the brain that are key for good mental health. Feeling relaxed after a drink is short-lived, whereas over time, alcohol can have an impact on your mental health and can contribute to feelings of depression and anxiety and worse still, it actually makes stressful situations like the Covid-crisis harder to deal with.”

People in the UK consumed more alcohol during the Covid-crisis than they did before. Unfortunately, this also led to higher alcohol-related fatalities.

“The last few months have forced people into isolation and to contemplate what is important to them. For some, drinking heavily was a way of suppressing feelings of worry, loneliness and fear, but for others, it was a time to reflect and to ask themselves if continuing to drink was the right thing for them.

“Thankfully, those people decided that enough was enough, and we’re seeing more and more people than ever before across Yorkshire take that first brave step in investing in their health in order to protect their future.”