Being a male or female cannot make a distinction in the incidence of addictive conduct and treatment requirements. Studies affirm that males from the age of twelve years are highly probable of reporting present substance abuse as compared to females. For instance, males are nearly two times as probable of using marihuana as females. Presently, females deemed drug addicts or alcoholics are viewed as pervert and promiscuous (van Wormer & Davis, 2012).
Addiction amid women is greatly stigmatized when judged against amid men and that could be a severe hindrance to obtaining assistance. Females who have drug addiction problems could thus be deemed suffering from a double tragedy since they are females and in addiction for that matter. Many females in addiction articulate a great deal of dishonor and regret due to their incapacity to perform tasks as expected of them by the community.
Addiction treatment should recognize the significance, in addition to the task of the socioeconomic concerns and dissimilarities amid women. Addiction treatment should also acknowledge the ascribed tasks and gender anticipations across cultures, which influence the approach of the community towards women with drug addiction problems. The treatment programs ought to employ an incorporated and multidisciplinary approach to females’ treatment while ensuring a gender receptive treatment situation across settings.
Addiction in females could be attributed to every kind of trauma, such as sexual assault (van Wormer & Davis, 2012). Studies affirm that handling addiction in conjunction with trauma in an incorporated manner could enhance outcomes as compared to offering treatment under some outlined conditions. A long duration of distressing abuse, typical of the majority of women in addiction, results in low self-worth and self-hatred that compels the women into conditions of more abuse.
When judged against males, females have a likelihood of having a shorter gap between frequent use, commencement of addiction, and start of treatment. Regardless of a shorter duration of use, when women get in treatment of the problems, the severity is normally the same as men’s. Females suffer a great extent of the physiological destruction earlier in the addiction, for instance, cirrhosis, heart diseases, and hepatitis (van Wormer & Davis, 2012).
The effects linked to addiction could be intensified in females. For instance, women’s liver seems more susceptible to the effect of alcohol consumption; accordingly, more females in addiction die from such effects as compared to males. In addition, females have weaker general physical well-being, mental fitness, and higher death rate from addiction problems as compared to males.
Attributable to the greater impact of addiction in females when compared to males, many studies and caregivers propose the application of women-only programs in treatment (van Wormer & Davis, 2012). Such programs would greatly facilitate females’ chances for realizing and retaining recuperation from addiction.
Other factors of effective addiction treatment encompass tackling some of the hindrances to successful treatment that many females encounter, adjusting the objectives and practices of the programs to contain the necessity for support, less showdown, skills teaching, and the implementation of empowerment models of transformation.
The women-only programs could employ female personnel to ensure that female addicts feel more at ease sharing their problems and worries (Donovan et al., 2012). Other treatment programs encompass the solution-focused approach, which deals closely with the addict. When clients are doubtful of their desired changes, motivational interviewing methods assist in the exploration of the significance of the problems and creation of a decision regarding their inspiration to change.
References
Donovan, D. M., Bigelow, G. E., Brigham, G. S., Carroll, K. M., Cohen, A. J., Gardin, J. G., & Wells, E. A. (2012). Primary outcome indices in illicit drug dependence treatment research: Systematic approach to selection and measurement of drug use end‐points in clinical trials. Addiction, 107(4), 694-708.
van Wormer, K., & Davis, D. (2012). Addiction treatment: A strengths perspective (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.