Women face unique issues when it comes to dealing with addiction. Women absorb alcohol at a faster rate than men, incapacitating them faster and leaving them vulnerable to abuse. They may put themselves in dangerous situations trying to earn money to feed a drug addiction. A women’s rehab program at a women’s addiction treatment center provides a haven free of men-related problems.
How Drugs and Alcohol Affect Women
Drugs and alcohol leave women at greater risk of being the victim of some form of sexual abuse or other violence. Women who abuse alcohol increase their chances of ending up with cancer or some other chronic health problem. They also end up dying more often than men.
Drugs have a similarly devastating effect on women. They tend to become addicted to drugs like heroin, cocaine, and prescription drugs more quickly. Pregnant women put their fetus at risk of being born with serious birth defects or an addiction issue.
Why Women Turn to Addiction
Women often have different reasons than men why they turn to drugs and alcohol.
- They’re dealing with the stress of being a caretaker
- There’s the pressure of trying to hold down a job while holding their family together
- They feel inadequate or unattractive
- Trying to mask the pain of experiencing sexual trauma
- Trying to self-medicate issues like depression and anxiety
Many women also feel pressured to drink socially, often to excess. Many feel pressure not to bring down the mood. Peer pressure often leads women down the path to addiction. Women’s addiction treatment center FL helps women overcome pressure by removing them from these situations and explaining how to overcome social pressure.
Reasons Women Avoid Treatment
Perfectionism often leads women to avoid treatment. They feel shame at the idea of people seeing them as bad mothers or spouses. There’s the worry that their co-workers or bosses may see them as unreliable, along with fears that they could lose their job.
Women battling addiction often feel a strong sense of shame about what they see as a weakness. They don’t want people to think they deliberately exposed their family to danger. Some worry about being perceived as a burden by others.
Another reason that women often avoid getting treatment is they don’t want to confront traumas driving their addiction. Traumas include physical and emotional abuse or traumatic experiences. Turning to drugs and alcohol helps them avoid diving into the pain and emotions they still experience because of the event.
The Benefits of a Women’s Addiction Treatment Center
Attending a women’s treatment addiction center means getting help for problems specific to that gender. Many women’s addiction treatment centers offer programs geared toward addressing sexual health, hormonal problems, and dealing with family planning.
Having the support of other women helps women accept help. Women’s addiction treatment helps with self-esteem issues. Patients learn how to cope with the societal pressures that led them towards addiction.
There are also Flordia addiction treatment center programs that provide help in learning life skills like:
- Better parenting techniques
- Help to locate stable housing
- Improving their body imagedic
- Becoming financially independent
All these things contribute to helping women build the support needed to live a life free of addiction. It’s important that women needing help have access to a women’s addiction treatment program or another form of support to help them move forward.