The Second Pandemic—Rising Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Among Parents

It goes without saying that parenting is one of the most difficult jobs a person will ever have. The pandemic has taken away many of the healthy coping mechanisms parents once relied on in order to survive. The stability and security of having a daily set of routine activities and interactions  with caretakers, friends, and family has stopped and parents everywhere are feeling overwhelmed with little help in sight. Sadly, without access to their normal coping mechanisms, many parents are turning to substance abuse, which in turn is contributing to a rise in mental disorders like depression and anxiety. On this episode, Dr. Margaret Lamar and Dr. Lisa Forbes discuss their research around this second pandemic and what we can do about it.

"...there's a lot of concern in the mental health community about there being what they would call a, 'second pandemic', of mental health and substance alcohol use problems. There's evidence that in past crises like this, that alcohol use goes up. And then from that alcohol and substance use, mental illnesses result as of that." -Margaret Lamar

"I think what the pandemic did, was it took away a lot of people's sense of safety and security...And just coping with living in a pandemic, our whole schedule is different. Our whole world is different. We can't do the same routines we used to do. Drinking and substances is a coping mechanism. It's not a positive one but it's a way to cope." -Lisa Forbes 


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Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros