Substance Abuse Treatment
Women face distinctive issues when it comes to substance use. Therefore, there is the need to consider certain factors when implementing substance abuse treatment for them. One such factor relates to physiological effects. There are substantial variations in the way men and women digest some substances such as alcohol. For instance, women both experience more complications and serious problems from alcohol abuse compared to men, and these develop more quickly (Calhoun & Lewis, 2016). Complications can include high blood pressure, heart-related illnesses, liver disease and damage to other organs, cancers and cognitive effects etc. In addition, women respond to substances differently. For instance, they may develop more drug cravings and have a higher likelihood of relapsing after treatment. Therefore, in this case, the treatment provided for women should be more intensive than that for men.
Another key consideration is the reasons for using drugs. There is a significant difference with regard to the reasons women and men abuse drugs. According to Greenfield (2016), research shows that women who abuse substances have issues related to menstrual cycle, hormones, menopause, breastfeeding and pregnancy. Moreover, women report unique reasons for abusing drugs, encompassing fighting exhaustion, regulating weight, coping with pain, and attempts to self-treat mental health issues. Understanding these reasons is thus important so as to develop treatment programs that best address the root causes of the drug problem. Another key consideration is pregnancy status. Abuse of substances among pregnant women is common. For women who decide to seek treatment, the treatment should be different. This is because such women have unique physiological needs (due to the growing fetus inside them). Therefore, the treatment should always seek to maintain the safety and wellbeing of both the mother and the unborn baby.
References
Calhoun, B. C., & Lewis, T. (2016). Tobacco cessation and substance abuse treatment in women’s healthcare: A clinical guide. Springer.
Greenfield, S. F. (2016). Treating women with substance use disorders: The women’s recovery group manual. Guilford Publications.
