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 previously could not bring themselves to get drunk, are increasingly getting involved in drinking.
This is a vulnerable category of society, they can hardly bear an unstable situation, stress and everyday problems. But a woman is a mother, the foundation of a family and an educator 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 fraction of drinkers and avoided alcohol treatment. They were ashamed of their illness and hid it. Gradually, more and more representatives of the fairer sex began to ask for help. Now their percentage compared to male alcoholics has increased greatly. The number of women who drink and want to recover has increased. The difficulty is that quitting drinking is not that easy. It is not easy to force yourself to live sober.
Many women still drink alone and hide their alcohol addiction. Men and women are at a disadvantage when they become alcoholics. In society, men who drink are less valued than women. A wife supports her drinking husband. He hopes it will help him stop drinking. And a husband can leave his wife who drinks, 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 forgets about them.
The opinion that female alcoholism is incurable has strengthened. The roots of this myth lie 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. Condemning women's drunkenness hinders the rapid initiation of treatment and makes it less effective. A role is also played by the rapid involvement of women in addiction, which soon leads to personal degradation.
Many serious complications arising from alcohol abuse make it difficult to make the right decision about seeking treatment. If someone could get their girlfriend to stop drinking by wishing her well, the recovery rate would be higher. Unfortunately, that is not possible. She has to leave the alcohol alone. And help should consist in 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, it is easier to hurt her 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 fairer sex suffer from alcoholism from time to time and cannot stop drinking on their own. The main reasons for starting abuse are:
- Stressful conditions due to an unsettled life, lack of finances, pressure from superiors and colleagues at work or the older generation of family living nearby.
- Worries about the relationship with the spouse, lack of attention on his part, betrayal, rudeness, frequent absences from home.
- Inability to spend free time, feeling bored, lack of hobbies.
- Lack of family, immersion in work during the day and emptiness in the evening.
- Loneliness, especially sudden: death of husband, his departure or loss of other loved ones.
- Insomnia, desire to normalize sleep.
- Dieting, an attempt to suppress hunger by restricting food.
- Heredity, alcoholism among ancestors.
- Menopause, increased physical and mental state 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. The body weight is lower than a man's, the absorption of alcohol 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 emotional sphere, a woman can become addicted to alcohol twice as fast. When a man is in the initial stage of alcoholism, he has just started drinking, a woman already feels a noticeable need to drink.
Stages of alcoholism
They are the same for men and women. The division into stages helps to assess the severity of the disease and the complications that occur in this stage. Finding a patient with alcoholism at one stage or another requires different approaches to treatment.
- Phase I.An attraction to alcohol occurs and develops. A woman gets pleasant sensations from drinking and wants to repeat them. This is how mental addiction appears. A woman has a desire to find herself in situations where she can drink more often. She is looking for a reason and a suitable company. Observing a woman, you can notice her atypical behavior and frequent drinking. She explains this by saying that she felt bad or that she wanted to relax, or that she was worried about problems - family or business.
He cannot objectively assess that drinking is frequent and refuses to stop. He reacts harshly to comments and refuses to analyze his behavior. Conflicts with those who want to make her stay sober. To stop the pressure from the outside, the woman begins to drink secretly.
- Phase II.Mental dependence is already formed, the mood depends on whether the woman has been drinking or not. Physical dependence is formed, the alcoholic begins to have a hangover. He often drinks a little every day, less often he goes on a multi-day binge, followed by a break. But quitting drinking is already very difficult.
A woman's body begins to fade quickly. 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 rough 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.
- Phase III.Physical dependence has developed, it is difficult for a woman to function without alcohol. There were irreversible changes in the body. There are significant disorders in the mental sphere and internal organs.
Among the disorders characteristic of this phase: alcoholic encephalopathy, polyneuropathy, persistent decline in intelligence, delirium tremens, toxic hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, kidney failure, chronic pancreatitis, risk of heart attack and stroke. The risk of poisoning with alcohol substitutes is extremely high.
Returning to a sober life is almost impossible. Drinking has already become a way of life, personality is being destroyed. She lost her job and almost all her loved ones, who were desperate to see her sober. She has no interests other than alcohol.
When to start treatment
In order to begin treatment, a woman must understand that she is addicted. Forced treatment will not help. The desire to stop drinking should be formed by oneself with the support of loved ones. She should not be left alone or listen to accusations. Loved ones are asked to be patient. The girl should be helped by her parents, especially her mother.
In the first two stages of the disease, she is able to understand that alcohol leads to trouble and shameful actions. It is also necessary to understand that alcoholic beverages do not solve her problems, but only make them worse. We need to help the woman understand that she is harming herself and her relationships. It should be shown that it is still possible to improve life, explain that all is not lost, because he is able to reason and be aware of himself.
There is no need to waste time going to folk healers and charlatans. They promise that a person will get sober in one or more short treatments. Neither the price of such services nor advertising fame guarantees success.
When she receives consent for treatment, the woman must go to a hospital where they provide assistance to patients undergoing drug treatment. Solving alcohol addiction is a complex and long process. It should be carried out only 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 the treatment, the following are used:
- Preparations for detoxification and rapid removal of alcohol breakdown products from the body.
- Drugs specialized in creating an aversion to alcohol.
- Medicines for the correction of disorders caused by alcohol abuse (cardiological, neurological, endocrinological, psychiatric spectrum and other acquired pathologies).
- Complex psychotherapy, psychologist help, attending group and individual classes for solving personal problems and emotional relief.
- Maintenance of blocking opioid receptors. Support coding, hypnotherapy. These methods should only be used in combination with other medical and psychotherapeutic interventions. Isolated exposure has practically no effect, because the motivation for sobriety outside complex therapy quickly disappears.
What motivates a woman to be sober?
The most important factor that drives a woman 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 get sober again for an important purpose. It is important for them to see that people believe in them.
The impetus for sobriety for a patient with alcoholism may be the desire to feel loved and wanted again.A woman wants to start a family and 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 female alcoholics fear serious illness or death as a consequence of alcoholism. In men who drink, this fear is less pronounced; in them this stimulant may not work.
A woman, wishing to remain healthy and feminine, is able to overcome the difficulties of the recovery period. It's important to know that recovery, unlike monotonous binges that ultimately end just as tragically, will give you a full and varied life. This is proven by the experience of hundreds of thousands of women who have already freed themselves from alcoholism.