Women are in need of focused, long term treatment in order to recover with as much success as their male counterparts, new research from the Journal Of Women And Health states. Here are some of the main points in the ways that women struggle with addiction and treatment in a more significant way than men do:
- More women drop out of treatment prematurely than men. This means there is a higher rate of women who are leaving treatment early. Called “AMA” or “Against Medical Advice” an official note is put on their file. An “AMA” note can make it more difficult to receive treatment in the future. Female patients can have many reasons for leaving treatment early, some of which are justifiable and some are not. Unfortunately, because of the existing issues women have with treatment, as discovered by the research, a higher rate of leaving treatment early could indicate more problems. Chronic “AMA” tends to equate to chronic relapse, which always runs a higher risk of fatal overdose.
- Women begin substance abuse later in life than men do. Alcoholics Anonymous, commonly referred to as “The Big Book” has a great passage about the difference of time and quantity in alcohol abuse between men and women, “To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years.” Though women may start abusing substances with less amount of years than men, the research found that their addictions were more severe.
- Women’s addictions more seriously interfere with their lives. Men might have a high capacity of masking and controlling their addictions. For women, the way that addiction bleeds into every other part of their lives is severe.
- Women experience more abuse than men. Many men do not report sexual abuse or other kinds of abuse, which is one reason why most research is skewed regarding how much abuse men actually face. According to this research, however, women faced a significantly higher amount of sexual abuse. Abuse of any kind is trauma which can lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Coping with trauma by abusing substances is common and can complicate the treatment of both issues.
Everyone is capable of recovering because everyone is capable of change. If you are a female experiencing problems with substance abuse, there is a solution. Design For Change has it. Call us today for information on our long term treatment options to help you find the hope you need in recovery: (877) 267-3646.
