Women and Alcohol National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism NIAAA
In the case of psychological treatments, studies showed similar outcomes for men and women for cognitive-behavioral therapy and contingency management [105,106,107]. Other sex/gender-specific medical problems to mention, related to drug use, are infertility, abortion, vaginal infections, and premature delivery. Today, alcohol use disorder treatment provides gender-specific programs at each level, from detox to inpatient rehab to outpatient counseling. Providers are also adapting online programs and services that make alcohol recovery a reality for many men and women. With the help of a treatment team, you can personalize a program to meet your lifestyle demands and preferences.
- Among the most consistent findings in this area is that females and males metabolize alcohol differently.
- Experiencing stigma, or being worried about being stigmatised, can mean that women may be less likely to seek treatment for AOD issues or to talk about those issues.
- In 2018, past-month alcohol use was equally prevalent among males (30%) and females (30%).
Combined with lower total body water relative to males, this results in higher blood alcohol concentrations in women, even after consumption of equivalent quantities of alcohol (Baraona et al., 2001; Chrostek, Jelski, Szmitkowski, & Puchalski, 2003). This metabolic difference results in greater intoxication for females relative to males when the same amount of alcohol is consumed. Sex differences in the metabolism of other substances have not been consistently demonstrated. However, there is some evidence that females metabolize nicotine more rapidly than males (Benowitz, Lessov-Schlaggar, Swan, & Jacob, 2006; Berlin, Gasior, & Moolchan, 2007) and exhibit higher peak plasma levels of cocaine (Lukas et al., 1996), which may be modulated by ovarian hormones. Substantial heterogeneity within sexes in metabolic processes, as well as the contribution of multiple metabolic pathways to the clearance of substances may obscure sex differences in drug metabolism (DeVane, 2009). Nonetheless, findings to date suggest that the metabolism of substances (and, accordingly their effects) cannot be assumed to be consistent for males and females.
how can i help a person who is alcohol dependence?
Adolescents from wealthy families do not have the financial strains that their peers in different income levels have, which means they can usually afford to buy whatever substance they want to misuse or abuse. They become addicted more quickly and with stronger motivation than men and have higher rates of relapse. Ecstasy is also incredibly dehydrating and impairs the body’s ability to purge excess water and reduce blood sodium levels. When a dehydrated individual on Ecstasy begins drinking large amounts of water, their brain cells could hold on to that water instead of releasing it.
Women often face family obligations that can be a barrier to treatment and also prevent treatment completion. Gender can impact many aspects of a person’s life, potentially even at the molecular level. There are definite differences when it comes to substance abuse and addiction between the genders.
Why Gender-Specific Programming Works
A substance use disorder occurs when a person continues to use drugs or alcohol even after experiencing negative consequences. Help for an addiction to drugs or alcohol is available through Vertava Health, an online resource for professional support and evidence-based, comprehensive treatment solutions. Addiction is an aggressive disease; get the help you deserve and discover a new and rewarding life in recovery. For instance, women may experience higher rates of cravings and episodes of relapse as well as a struggle with co-occurring disorders at high rates.
Estradiol plays a role in the acquisition of cocaine-taking behavior (Hu and Becker 2008; Anker and Carroll 2011; Hu et al. 2004). Once the female is avidly self-administering cocaine, however, the ovarian hormones are no longer modulating the motivation for cocaine and cocaine intake does not vary with the estrous cycle in the choice paradigm (Cummings et al. 2011; Perry et al. 2015; Perry et al. 2013b). These results suggest that estradiol is important for the initiation of drug taking, but once the behavior is well established, it is no longer under ovarian hormone regulation. In a choice paradigm a rat can choose whether to receive a banana-flavored sucrose pellet or an injection of cocaine, but only a subpopulation of rats choose cocaine.
Demographics of Drug Users
For much of American history, men were more likely to abuse alcohol and women were more likely to be prescribed and abuse pills (namely prescription Opioids). More women nowadays are drinking at levels similar to men and, overall, more men misuse prescription Opioids than women. Importantly, it is not the case that women in the U.S. are simply drinking more like men.
In general, males still consume more alcohol and experience and cause more alcohol-related injuries and deaths than females do, but the gaps are narrowing. Among adolescents and emerging adults, gaps in drinking have narrowed primarily because alcohol use among males has declined more than alcohol use among females. Rates of alcohol-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths all have increased among adults during the past 2 decades. Consistent with the changing patterns of alcohol use, increases in these outcomes have been larger for women.
Over a period of four to eight weeks, some rats choose the cocaine over the pellets, and once a rat makes that shift to cocaine it persists. In this paradigm about 50% of females choose the cocaine (compared with 15–20% of males). The females that choose cocaine also do this sooner than the males that ultimately choose cocaine (Perry et al. 2013b).
Men who face trauma from combat turn to substance abuse to deal with the symptoms more often, as well. Fascinatingly, at least 13 studies have investigated how the menstrual cycle impacts a woman’s odds of successfully quitting smoking. They consistently found that it’s harder to quit during the luteal stage of the cycle, just before a woman is expecting her period — the time during which the hormones estrogen and progesterone are present in lower amounts.
Gender-Specific and Gender-Responsive Treatments
In the case of cocaine, peak plasma concentrations differ between men and women, depending on the route of administration. Men achieved higher concentrations through the intranasal route compared to the intravenous route, whereas in women, the plasma concentrations can change depending on the phase of the menstrual cycle, achieving higher concentrations in the follicular phase than in the luteal phase [32, 33]. Men are twice as likely to misuse marijuana daily with more opportunities to start using it. Young women tend to start using it a year later than men, but those who misuse it are more likely than men to have mood or anxiety disorders. On the flip side, men misusing marijuana are more likely to behave in inappropriate ways around others when under the influence. In addition, certain individuals should avoid alcohol completely, particularly those who experience facial flushing and dizziness when drinking alcohol.
Women may transition from substance misuse to the development of a substance use disorder much more quickly than men. According to the APA, women are more likely to use illicit substances in an attempt to self-medicate themselves (either to deal with physical issues like alcohol vs drugs fatigue or pain or to deal with stress). In general, men are more likely to develop or be diagnosed with a substance use disorder than women. APA diagnoses abuse of sedatives and anxiolytics in the same category as a sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic use disorder.