It is not as difficult for a man to get rid of alcohol addiction as it is for an ordinary woman to stop drinking alcohol. Female alcoholism has become widespread in recent years. Younger women, who in former times could not be forced to get drunk, are becoming increasingly involved in drinking.
This is a vulnerable category of society; it is difficult for them to endure an unstable situation, stress and everyday problems. But a woman is a mother, the foundation of a family and educators of the younger generation, so it is necessary to stop this epidemic.
Formation of the problem of female alcoholism
Just 20 years ago, female alcoholics made up a small part of drinking people and avoided seeking anti-alcohol treatment. They were ashamed of their illness and hid it. Gradually, more and more representatives of the fair sex began to seek help. Now their percentage in relation to male alcoholics has increased greatly. There has been an increase in the number of drinking women seeking to recover. The difficulty is that quitting drinking is not so easy. It’s not easy to force yourself to live soberly.
Many women continue to drink alone and hide their alcohol addiction. Men and women are at a disadvantage when they become alcoholics. In society, men who drink are judged less than women. A woman supports her drinking husband. She hopes she can help him stop drinking. And a husband can leave his drinking wife, who shames him and sets a bad example for his children. Native children will not want to see their mother when she is lying somewhere drunk and has forgotten about them.
The opinion has become stronger that female alcoholism is incurable. The roots of this myth are in the negative assessment of female drunkenness by society and in the fact that a woman remains silent about her problem for a long time, and the disease becomes neglected. Condemnation of female drunkenness interferes with the rapid initiation of treatment and makes it less effective. A woman’s rapid involvement in addiction, which soon leads to personal degradation, also plays a role.
Many serious complications resulting from alcohol abuse make it difficult to make a sound decision to seek treatment. If someone could get their girlfriend to stop drinking by wishing her well, the recovery rate would be higher. Unfortunately this is not possible. She must quit alcohol on her own. And help should consist of making drinkers aware of their addiction.
Why do women start drinking?
Psychological or emotional reasons lead a girl or woman to drink. She is emotional, she is easier to hurt mentally, she experiences life events more strongly. It doesn’t have to be a dysfunctional marginalized woman to begin with. Even outwardly successful representatives of the fair sex suffer from alcoholism from time to time and cannot stop drinking on their own. The main reasons for the onset of abuse are:
- Stressful conditions due to unsettled life, lack of finances, pressure from superiors and colleagues at work or the older generation of the family living nearby.
- Worries about the relationship with your spouse, lack of attention on his part, betrayal, rudeness, frequent absences from home.
- Inability to spend leisure time, feeling bored, lack of hobbies.
- Lack of family, immersion in work during the day and emptiness in the evening.
- Loneliness, especially sudden: the death of a husband, his departure or the loss of other loved ones.
- Insomnia, desire to normalize sleep.
- Diet, an attempt to suppress hunger with food restrictions.
- Heredity, alcoholism among ancestors.
- Menopause, increased physical and mental ill-being due to changes in the body.
Is female alcoholism different from male alcoholism?
A woman gets drunk faster, this is explained by the characteristics of her body. Body weight is less than that of a man, alcohol absorption occurs faster. The enzyme that helps break down alcohol is less active; female sex hormones are incompatible with the breakdown products of alcohol.
Due to the characteristics of physiology and the emotional sphere, a woman can become dependent on alcohol twice as quickly. When a man is at the initial stage of alcoholism, just getting involved in drinking, a woman already feels a noticeable need for booze.
Stages of alcoholism
They are the same for men and women. Division into stages helps to assess the severity of the disease and the complications that arise at this stage. Finding a patient with alcoholism at one stage or another requires different approaches to treatment.
- Stage I.An attraction to alcohol arises and develops. A woman gets pleasant sensations from drinking and wants to repeat them. This is how mental dependence appears. A woman has a desire to find herself in situations where she can drink more often. She is looking for a reason and suitable company. Observing a woman, you can notice her atypical behavior and more frequent drinking. She explains this by saying that she felt bad or wanted to relax, or was worried about problems - family or work.
She cannot objectively assess that drinking has become more frequent and refuses to quit. He reacts sharply to comments and refuses to analyze his behavior. Conflicts with those who want to force her to stay sober. To stop the pressure from the outside, the woman begins to drink secretly.
- Stage II.Mental dependence has already been formed, the mood depends on whether the woman has drunk or not. Physical dependence forms, the alcoholic begins to have a hangover. She often drinks a little every day, less often she goes on a multi-day binge, after which there is a break. But quitting drinking is already very difficult.
The female body quickly begins to fade. External signs of persistent alcoholism appear. An unkempt appearance, attempts to hide a gray complexion under decorative cosmetics, bags under the eyes, and a swollen face reveal a woman who drinks. Her voice becomes harsh and hoarse. The behavior shows aggressiveness, hysteria, tearfulness, unwillingness to take responsibility, and alienation from loved ones. She becomes sexually promiscuous and has gynecological diseases. Memory weakens, lethargy and hand tremors appear.
- Stage III.Physical dependence has developed; it is difficult for a woman to function without alcohol. Irreversible changes have occurred in the body. There are significant disturbances in the mental sphere and in internal organs.
Among the disorders characteristic of this stage: alcoholic encephalopathy, polyneuropathy, persistent decline in intelligence, delirium tremens, toxic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, renal failure, chronic pancreatitis, risk of heart attack and stroke. The risk of poisoning from alcohol substitutes is extremely high.
Returning to a sober life is almost impossible. Drinking has already become a way of life, the personality is being destroyed. She lost her job and almost all her loved ones, who despaired of seeing her sober. She has no other interests other than alcohol.
When to start treatment
To begin treatment, a woman must understand that she is dependent. Forced treatment will not be beneficial. The desire to quit drinking should be formed on her own with the support of loved ones. She shouldn't be left alone or listen to accusations. Patience is required from loved ones. The girl should be helped by her parents, especially her mother.
In the first two stages of the disease, she is able to realize that alcohol leads to trouble and shameful actions. It is also necessary to understand that alcoholic drinks do not solve her problems, but only aggravate them. We need to help a woman realize that she is harming both herself and her relationships. It should be shown that it is still possible to improve life, explain that not everything is lost, since she is able to reason and be aware of herself.
There is no need to waste time going to traditional healers and charlatans. They promise to get a person sober in one or more short treatments. Neither the price of such services nor advertising fame guarantees success.
When consent to treatment is received, the woman must go to a hospital where they provide assistance to drug treatment patients. Getting rid of alcohol addiction is a complex and long process. It should only be carried out by a specialist doctor, using complex methods: medicinal and psychotherapeutic.
What is medical care?
Treatment methods for female alcoholism are very diverse. Specialists at the drug treatment hospital select an individual set of treatment measures based on the characteristics of each woman admitted for treatment. During treatment the following are used:
- Preparations for detoxification and rapid removal of alcohol breakdown products from the body.
- Drugs specializing in the formation of aversion to alcohol.
- Drugs for the correction of disorders resulting from alcohol abuse (cardiological, neurological, endocrinological, psychiatric spectrum and other acquired pathologies).
- Complex psychotherapy, help from a psychologist, attending group and individual classes to solve personal problems and emotional relief.
- Maintenance blocking of opioid receptors. Supportive coding, hypnotherapy. These methods should be used only in combination with other medical and psychotherapeutic interventions. Isolated exposure has virtually no effect, since motivation for sobriety outside of complex therapy quickly fades away.
What motivates a woman to be sober?
The most important factor that sets a woman up to return to a sober life is acceptance by loved ones. A man often recovers to spite someone, trying to prove that he is not completely lost. And women are trying to become sober again for some important purpose. It is important for them to see that people believe in them.
An incentive for sobriety for a patient with alcoholism can be the desire to feel loved and desired again.A woman wants to start a family, and she needs to show her best side. When she meets someone she likes, she has a desire to get married and realize herself as a mother. This also motivates you to give up alcohol.
Experts also note that women alcoholics fear serious illness or death as a consequence of alcoholism. In men who drink, this fear is less pronounced; for them this stimulus may not work.
A woman, in her desire to remain healthy and feminine, is able to overcome the difficulties of the recovery period. It is important to know that, unlike monotonous binges that ultimately end equally tragically, recovery will give you a full and varied life. The experience of hundreds of thousands of women who have already gotten rid of alcoholism proves this.