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By Connor Gunn

U of L study shows Albertans turning to alcohol and cannabis more through pandemic

May 3, 2021 | 3:09 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB– A new University of Lethbridge study has shown people are experiencing the pandemic similarly to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), resulting in increased alcohol and cannabis use.

A suite of studies by U of L researcher Dr. Cheryl Currie has identified that many adults are looking for help for these problems in Alberta.

Currie surveyed approximately 900 adults in June 2020 who had no previous diagnosis of PTSD and found that people are grappling to find coping mechanisms.

“Pandemic-related PTSD symptoms were common among Alberta adults in this study. Nightmares, intrusive thoughts about COVID-19, and feeling constantly on guard were frequently reported,” says Currie.

“In some ways, the pandemic has many people stuck in fight-or-flight mode due to a combination of fear, ongoing social and economic impacts, and unpredictability regarding when it will finally be over.”

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She added that a third of women and a quarter of men reported they were going out of their way to avoid thinking about COVID-19.

“That’s where substance use comes in,” says Currie. “Adults who reported large increases in their substance use during the pandemic noted they were trying hard to not think about it.”

The study notes that using substances to avoid thoughts and emotions is not unusual in society, and shows 13 per cent were already reporting large increases in their alcohol and cannabis use in the first wave of the pandemic.

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“Will people be able to return to pre-pandemic substance use levels once the COVID-19 crisis ends, or will we see elevated use and problems longer term? Alcohol consumption in Canada is already higher than the global average, and among the highest among developed countries,” she says.

Just under half of adults reported that they needed help from health professionals to address their substance use and mental health problems during the pandemic.

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In light of this evidence that mental health has taken a large toll on Albertans through this pandemic, Currie wanted to see if there were effective health professional-led interventions that could be delivered to groups online, thus providing adults with both the social support and health-professional guidance they were looking for.

Sadly, Currie and her team “came up empty.”

Going forward, her goal is to identify clinically effective and cost-efficient interventions that can be offered to large numbers of adults seeking help for pandemic-related substance use and mental health problems.

View the study.

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