‘It’s more than just not drinking’: A closer look at addiction and complete mental health

Andrea Howard, a psychology professor at Carleton, launched a new study this September called Plan to Drink that looks into Carleton students’ drinking habits. 

“This study is really about trying to find really specific combinations of situations over the course of a day that will lead to more or less harm,” Howard said.

To participate, a student must drink regularly, Howard said. Students who participate in this project need to answer a number of surveys throughout the week for an entire semester. Each participant is rewarded with financial benefits. 

Even though many undergraduate students will engage in heavy drinking, it’s unlikely they will develop long-term alcohol problems, Howard said. 

“We know that students are going to drink, there’s nothing wrong with going out to drink,” Howard said. “We want to make sure, if at all possible, to try and limit the harm coming from individual instances of drinking and create conditions that will allow students to evaluate their choices a little bit better.” 

There is not enough information about how to effectively reduce alcohol-related harm for students, which is troubling since alcohol use is a normative behaviour amongst undergraduate students—particularly amid COVID-19. But some researchers and advocates are hard at work trying to bridge this gap.

Addiction and COVID-19 

The swift and drastic changes from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as lockdown measures, have led to an increase in alcohol consumption and substance use amongst Canadians, according to the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. 

This year, Statistics Canada reported that heavy drinking has seen an overall increase throughout the pandemic, with stress and boredom prompting the rise in drinking for some people.

But Dillon Brady, manager of student conduct and harm reduction at Carleton University, said these statistics are painting a potentially incomplete picture.

“It can be really hard to get exact statistics on rates of dependence,” Brady said. “Not all folks seek treatment and not a lot of folks who meet the criteria actually recognize their use as problematic.”

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), more than 20 per cent of the Canadian population will meet the criteria for addiction in their lifetime. The criteria for an addiction involves craving, loss of control about the amount or frequency of substance use, compulsion and continued substance use despite consequences. 

The association also reported that alcohol is the most common substance for those who meet the criteria of addiction. 

The student experience

Many Canadians use alcohol and substances to relax, have fun, experiment or cope, Brady said. There are many reasons why a student can become addicted to alcohol. 

“[University is] a time of experimentation,” Brady said. “You’re learning and you’re surrounded in new social settings with people that have different experiences than you and you’re exposed to a lot of different things, and you’re exposed to them without a lot of restrictions.”

Age is a key factor affecting students’ relationships with alcohol, according to Brady. The general age of post-secondary students ranges between 18 to 25, so many are new to the experience of alcohol. 

The use of substances, particularly habitual alcohol use, can become glorified within a university setting and students may not even realize they have an addiction. This makes it more difficult for them to realize whether or not they need help, Brady said.

Grace, a student at Carleton whose last name is withheld for privacy reasons, spoke about her relationship with her older brother who suffered from addictions. She said her brother’s addictions included cigarettes, alcohol, gambling and heroin. He also started dealing to pay for his habits, she said. 

Grace said her brother’s personality when he was addicted was a stark contrast to being sober. She noted how he would always keep his door locked, yelled more and only wore long-sleeve shirts.

“It definitely changes a 13-year-old’s life, thinking of the person you look up to going through that,” Grace said. “It just becomes this constant reminder of ‘how did you not notice?’”

Her brother’s battle with addiction began while he was away at a university in the U.S., Grace said. 

He eventually faced up to 23 years in prison, but was instead sentenced to Shock Incarceration. According to the program’s website, the program “allows eligible offenders to earn early release from prison if they successfully complete a six-month intensive ‘boot camp’-style rehabilitation program.”

Even though he overdosed twice on substances, it was not until Grace’s brother faced time in prison that she said he decided to change his ways. 

“That just shows how an addiction just defies logic in so many ways and it takes precedence over your own life and well-being,” Grace said.  

Grace said her brother is doing really well today. He has been sober for seven years and is now a manager at a grocery store. 

Understanding dependency

Grace’s brother’s experience is not uncommon, particularly as males can be more at-risk of addictions.

In 2018, more than 15 per cent of Canadians aged 12 and older reported alcohol consumption that classified them as “heavy drinkers,” according to another report from   Statistics Canada.

Heavy drinking consists of five or more drinks for males and four or more drinks for females per occasion at least once a month during the past year, the report stated. 

Males were more likely to be classified as heavy drinkers than females in 2018. The highest proportion of heavy drinking for both sexes was among those aged 18 to 34. In that age group, 33.5 per cent of males and 23.8 per cent of females were classified as heavy drinkers.

Brady said alcohol dependence can be divided into two categories: a physical and psychological need.

Rachel Ouellet, a mental health and crisis intervention worker from Ontario, said addicts can experience severe withdrawal symptoms at the physical level of addiction.

“With drug and alcohol dependence, there’s a lot of danger that goes into just keeping clean. You can literally die from being in alcohol withdrawal,” she said.

Ouellet agreed with Brady in that there is often a deeper psychological need that an addict’s trying to fulfill.

“On the surface, you’d say the need is the drug, but if you were to look at it as an iceberg, you’d see the tip—that would be the addiction,” Ouellet said. “Underlying that, there’s often trauma and there’s often undiagnosed mental disorders.” 

Complete mental health

Findings from a recent study by Melissa Redmond, a social work professor at Carleton University, reveal a possible happy ending for many. Alcohol addiction, her research found, is more likely to end with age.

Most notably, her study found that 71 per cent of Canadians with a history of alcohol dependence were no longer dependent in the previous year and 52 per cent were free of any addictions or mental illness. 

“There haven’t been a lot of studies that have looked at this notion of complete mental health with regards to alcohol dependence,” Redmond said. She added it is important to understand how complete mental health relies on social connections and support.

Redmond’s study found that ending alcohol dependence was more common among married respondents, older individuals and those with more social support and no major depressive or generalised anxiety disorders. Canadians with a history of alcohol dependence were more likely to have a history of mental illness and less likely to hold a post-secondary degree or to be married.

“As you get older, there’s more coming to terms with the negative impacts that are associated with alcohol dependence,” Redmond said.

Redmond explained that people become less impulsive as they age, making it more likely that they will overcome their alcohol dependence. Other reasons, Redmond mentioned, included people having more responsibilities as they get older and dealing with other costs of being alcohol dependent.

“When we usually talk about mental health, we’re often talking about it in a very narrow sense,” Redmond said, commenting on society’s understanding of what it means to have complete mental health. “It’s more than just not drinking.”

Helping hands

In 2019, Carleton partnered with the Community Addictions Peer Support Association (CAPSA) to offer weekly support meetings on campus for those affected by substance use and addiction. Currently, Brady said their meetings are held over Zoom.

Karen Hidalgo, a knowledge broker at CAPSA, explained that their peer-support meetings, known as “All People All Pathways” are facilitated by individuals with lived or living experience with substance use and addiction. The University of Ottawa and Algonquin College also provide access to these meetings. 

“‘All People All Pathways’ meetings have an open-door policy,” Hidalgo said. “Anyone is welcome to come in.” There are no expectations of abstinence and family and friends of those struggling with substance use are also welcome to join, she said. 

Hidalgo said it is common for people to have their stress levels be exacerbated because of the pandemic and noted that loneliness as one reason why people may turn to substance use. 

This tendency can then lead to other effects, including poor sleeping, eating habits and maintenance of relationships, Hidalgo said. She also mentioned that there is a stigma surrounding substance use, making it harder for people—especially post-secondary students—to overcome their addictions. 

“Achieving an increase in wellness looks different to everyone,” Hidalgo said. “Maybe it’s abstinence, maybe it’s harm reduction, maybe instead of drinking five glasses of wine, it’s one.” 

Regardless of the method or how long it takes to achieve a goal, Hidalgo said progress is what matters most.

---

Featured image by Spencer Colby.