Tamil Nadu: No liquor in stock, alcohol addicts experience withdrawal, seek help

Aditi R | TNN | Apr 6, 2020, 06:11 IST

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CHENNAI: Eleven days into the shutdown, counselling centres are being bombarded with calls from people who have run out of liquor and are experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Two centres in the city -- MCJ Counselling Centre at Madras School of Social Work and Voluntary Health Services, Taramani --that provide teleconferencing services for alcohol addiction are getting 20 calls a day. Most people are complaining of irritability, sleeplessness, mood swings and depression.
Besides counselling the caller and providing him with therapies, the centres are counselling spouses and family members of the caller.
“It is different when you counsel them in person and over the phone. But due to the lockdown, we have to find other means to help them out,” said Dame Queen, a counsellor at MCJ and an assistant professor of social work.
She said most of the callers were experiencing withdrawal symptoms due to the sudden closure of liquor outlets in the state. “They have become so used to having a drink every day that they are now panicking and experiencing bouts of anxiety and depression,” she said.
“A few have also become violent and have abused their spouses,” said Hanna John, another counsellor at the centre. She said most of the callers were men and aged between 22 and 25, a few were above 40.
Counsellors said people were also asking about substitutes.
“They keep calling us again and again and we have to be patient and help them through this,” said a counsellor from VHS, Taramani. The counsellor said even those who were earlier seeking de-addiction services and undergoing treatment were experiencing a relapse. “We had a case where a patient had run out of medicines and the nearby pharmacy had shut down. He couldn’t step out and began complaining of immense physical pain and stress. We then delivered medicines to him,” the counsellor said.
At the TT Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation (TTK Hospital), counsellors have made a list of all patients who had come to them in the past four years and are calling four of them every day.
Maya Varadarajan, managing trustee of the organisation, said those experiencing withdrawal symptoms are not getting the required help since government and private hospitals no longer admit them. “They are cordoned off to treat Covid-19 patients,” she said. Maya said that since they were now locked indoors with their families, alcohol addicts might experience mental stress. Families in turn become vulnerable and if ignored this might increase violence and crime across the state, she said.
Counsellors suggested that such people must spend more time with their families, engage in domestic chores and stay active.
“But every family is different, they need to figure it out and seek help,” said Maya.