Isolation, Solitude and Social Distancing for People Who Use Drugs: An Ethnographic Perspective

TY - JOUR

T1 - Isolation, Solitude and Social Distancing for People Who Use Drugs

T2 - An Ethnographic Perspective

AU - Roe, Laura

AU - Proudfoot, Jesse

AU - Tay Wee Teck, Joseph

AU - Irvine, Richard D. G.

AU - Frankland, Stan

AU - Baldacchino, Alexander Mario

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2021 Roe, Proudfoot, Tay Wee Teck, Irvine, Frankland and Baldacchino.

PY - 2021/1/13

Y1 - 2021/1/13

N2 - COVID-19 has resulted in deepened states of crisis and vulnerability for people who use drugs throughout Europe and across the world, with social distancing measures having far-reaching implications for everyday life. Prolonged periods of isolation and solitude are acknowledged within much addiction literature as negatively impacting the experiences of those in recovery, while also causing harm to active users – many of whom depend on social contact for the purchasing and taking of substances, as well as myriad forms of support. Solitude, however, is proposed by the authors as inherent within some aspects of substance use, far from particular to the current pandemic. Certain forms of substance use engender solitary experience, even where use is predicated upon the presence of others. Adopting a cross-disciplinary perspective, this paper takes as its focus the urgent changes wrought by the pandemic upon everyday life for people who use drugs, drawing on recent ethnographic fieldwork with substance users in Scotland. Beyond the current crises, the paper proposes solitude, and by extension isolation, as an analytical framework for better apprehending lived experiences of substance use.

AB - COVID-19 has resulted in deepened states of crisis and vulnerability for people who use drugs throughout Europe and across the world, with social distancing measures having far-reaching implications for everyday life. Prolonged periods of isolation and solitude are acknowledged within much addiction literature as negatively impacting the experiences of those in recovery, while also causing harm to active users – many of whom depend on social contact for the purchasing and taking of substances, as well as myriad forms of support. Solitude, however, is proposed by the authors as inherent within some aspects of substance use, far from particular to the current pandemic. Certain forms of substance use engender solitary experience, even where use is predicated upon the presence of others. Adopting a cross-disciplinary perspective, this paper takes as its focus the urgent changes wrought by the pandemic upon everyday life for people who use drugs, drawing on recent ethnographic fieldwork with substance users in Scotland. Beyond the current crises, the paper proposes solitude, and by extension isolation, as an analytical framework for better apprehending lived experiences of substance use.

KW - COVID-19

KW - harm reduction

KW - isolation

KW - social distancing

KW - solitude

KW - substance use

KW - substance use disorder

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85100060059

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.623032

DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.623032

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85100060059

SN - 1664-0640

VL - 11

JO - Frontiers in Psychiatry

JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry

M1 - 623032

ER -