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[Irish Medical Times] , Connors, Aoife Recession causing surge in drug and alcohol abuse. (18 Nov 2010)

External website: http://www.imt.ie/news/uncategorized/2010/11/reces...

The recession is becoming an increasingly common issue in the consultation room, month by month, as the long-term effects of the recession deepen, Dr Ronan Boland, Chair of the IMO GP Committee has told Irish Medical Times.
Pointing out that there had been a significant increase in people presenting with stress, anxiety problems, drug and substance abuse, Dr Boland said: “Certainly, anecdotally, there is a resurgence in drug and alcohol abuse of a magnitude that I haven’t seen since the mid-1990s.”

Practising in a disadvantaged urban area of Cork city, Dr Boland believes the single biggest determinant of substance abuse is employment status. While this was most common in young men, he said it could affect all age groups. He explained that this cohort secured gainful employment from the late-90s onwards until recent times. “During the situation of full employment, we just weren’t seeing that cohort of people. However the more deep-rooted you become in long-term unemployment, the financial disadvantage and the health disadvantage increases and the hopelessness that tends to go with it is definitely an additional risk factor for an increase in drug abuse and misuse,” Dr Boland told IMT...


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