It is not as difficult for a man to get rid of alcohol addiction as it is for an ordinary woman to give up alcohol. Female alcoholism has become widespread in recent years. Young women, who in former times could not be forced to get drunk, are 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 the family and an educator of the new generation, so it is necessary to stop this epidemic.
The formation of the problem of female alcoholism
Just 20 years ago, female alcoholics made up a small proportion of people who drank alcohol and avoided seeking 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 alcoholic men has increased a lot. There has been an increase in the number of female alcoholics seeking recovery. The difficulty is that quitting drinking is not that easy. It is 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 it can help him stop drinking. And a man 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 evaluation of female drunkenness by society and in the fact that a woman stays silent about her problem for a long time and the disease becomes neglected. Punishment of female intoxication 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.
The many serious complications that result 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 them well, the recovery rate would be higher. Unfortunately this is not possible. She should give up alcohol herself. And help should consist in making alcoholics aware of their addiction.
Why do women start drinking?
Psychological or emotional reasons lead a girl or woman to drink. It is emotional, gets hurt more easily mentally, 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 initiation of abuse are:
- Stressful conditions due to an irregular life, lack of finances, pressure from superiors and colleagues at work or the older generation of the family living nearby.
- Concerns 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.
- Absence of family, immersion in work during the day and emptiness in the evening.
- Loneliness, especially sudden: the death of the husband, his departure or the loss of other loved ones.
- Insomnia, the desire to normalize sleep.
- Dieting, an attempt to suppress hunger with food restrictions.
- Heredity, alcoholism among ancestors.
- Menopause, increase in physical and mental illnesses 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, 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 the emotional sphere, a woman can become addicted to alcohol twice as fast. When a man is in the initial stage of alcoholism, just getting involved in drinking, a woman already feels a noticeable need for a 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 appear at this stage. Finding a patient with alcoholism at one stage or another requires different approaches to treatment.
- Phase I.An attraction to alcohol arises and develops. A woman gets pleasant sensations from drinking and wants to repeat them. This is how mental addiction occurs. A woman has a desire to find herself in situations where she can drink more often. She is looking for a suitable reason and companionship. 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 rest, or was worried about problems - family or work.
She cannot objectively assess that drinking alcohol has become more frequent and refuses to quit. He reacts harshly to comments and refuses to analyze his behavior. Conflicts with those who want to force him to stay sober. To stop the pressure from the outside, the woman starts drinking secretly.
- Phase II.Mental dependence has already been created, the mood depends on whether the woman has been drinking or not. Physical dependence is formed, 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 untidy appearance, attempts to hide a gray color under decorative makeup, bags under the eyes and a puffy face reveal a woman who drinks. Her voice becomes harsh and hoarse. The behavior shows aggression, hysteria, tears, unwillingness to take responsibility and withdrawal 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. Irreversible changes have occurred in the body. There are significant disturbances in the mental sphere and in the internal organs.
Among the characteristic disorders of this stage: 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 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 were desperate to see her sober. She has no interests other than alcohol.
When to start treatment
To begin treatment, a woman must understand that she is addicted. Forced treatment will not help. The desire to quit drinking must be formed by oneself with the support of loved ones. She should not be left alone or hear 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 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 a woman realize that she is harming herself and her relationships. It must 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 quacks. They promise to make a person sober in one or more short treatments. Neither the price of these services nor the popularity of the advertisements guarantee success.
When consent for treatment is obtained, the woman must go to a hospital where they provide assistance to patients who are treated with drugs. Getting rid of alcohol addiction is a complex and long process. It should be performed only by a specialist doctor, using complex methods: medicinal and psychotherapeutic.
What is medical care?
Methods of treatment of female alcoholism are very different. Specialists in the drug treatment hospital select an individual set of treatment measures based on the characteristics of each woman admitted for treatment. The following are used during treatment:
- Preparations for detoxification and rapid removal of alcohol breakdown products from the body.
- Drugs specialized 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 for solving personal problems and emotional relief.
- Maintaining blockade of 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, since the motivation for sobriety outside complex therapy quickly disappears.
What motivates a woman to be sober?
The most important factor that prompts a woman to return to a sober life is the acceptance of loved ones. A man often recovers to pity 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 that they see that people believe in them.
A drive for sobriety for a patient with alcoholism may be the desire to feel loved and desired again.A woman wants to start a family and she should show her best side. When she meets someone she likes, she wants to get married and realize herself as a mother. This also motivates you to give up alcohol.
Experts also note that alcoholic women fear serious illness or death as a result 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 pleasures that eventually end just as 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.