Why Women Abuse Substances

[christopher1]

According to the book "Women Under the Influence," which is an exhaustive 10-year analysis of substance abuse among girls and women, girls and young women are likelier than boys and young men to abuse substances in order to lose weight, relieve stress or boredom, improve their mood, reduce sexual inhibitions, self-medicate depression, and increase confidence.

Women in substance abuse treatment are more than five times likelier than men (69 percent vs. 12 percent) to have been sexually abused as children and girls and women are likelier than men to suffer eating disorders, both of which are major risk factors for substance abuse, CASA reports.

Women studied by CASA were more likely than men to say their heavy drinking followed a crisis, such as miscarriage, divorce, unemployment or recent departure of a child from the home.

Older women are likelier than older men to self-medicate with alcohol and prescription drugs in order to deal with loneliness, financial insecurity or loss of a spouse.

[DocMon]

thanks for this. we do see this pattern a lot, does the book tell why?

[singular]

I think it is because women tend to get more queasy about a visit to the doctor than anyone else?

Am not sure this is the case though.

[friedchicken]

I dunno, from my experience it's because women have tend to rely on their friends for advice. If they feel something is wrong with them, they are more apt to ask their friends than those in authority.

[Blender]

I would have thought that men were the ones who shy away from doctors. They can't even ask for directions when they are lost!

[Blender]

Originally Posted by DocMon

thanks for this. we do see this pattern a lot, does the book tell why?

My guess is, that it could be a matter of hormones or chemicals. Men and women are wired differently so to speak, we have different chemicals, like say estrogen and testosterone. And because these substances are chemicals, they are more likely to affect your body's own chemistry. I think women have chemicals that are more prone to respond to these chemicals in such a way that it creates an addiction.

[LiveWIRE]

This is an interesting premise. If the statistics are true and accurate, it would seem that women are more predisposed to be addicted than men.

[lemon]

That's a horrible thought. Can you imagine being more predisposed to addiction just because you're a woman?

[greatlegs]

This is a great post to help those who are into addiction. Very interesting topic.