The Heartbreaking Struggle to Stay Sober Under Lockdown

Experts say widespread self-isolation and an unaffected supply of drugs and alcohol put many in recovery at risk of using again

Illustration: Sophi Gullbrants

Bob, from Long Island, is 34 and has spent more than a decade in a tug of war with addiction and mental illness. Periods of detox and treatment, he said, alternate with downward spirals into alcohol, cocaine, opiate, codeine, and hallucinogenic drug use and, more than once, attempted suicide.

Bob, who asked to use his first name only for privacy, got out of rehab on March 13. Transitioning out of inpatient care is tough enough, he said. Being released into a world reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic raises the stakes. “I’m more afraid of a relapse right now than I am of coronavirus,” Bob told me.

Recovery is not only a journey from substance use; it’s a slow withdrawal from all the conditions of addiction, like isolation, chaos, and fear. Now, a global health crisis, an economic collapse, and mandated self-isolation have forced people in recovery into vulnerable circumstances that heighten the challenge of sobriety. Usual coping strategies — cooking for friends, seeing a therapist, focusing on work, attending peer support meetings, going to the gym, visiting museums, being outdoors — have…