Women and Addiction

Studies have shown that women and men heal differently. Women tend to have better recovery rates in small recovery settings. Our women’s detoxification center treats a maximum of six women. We ensure that our female clientele participate in small groups run by experienced and caring staff.

Our team of health professionals explains the cycle of addiction. We teach our clients exactly how to break that cycle and how to live healthy and happy lives.

The healthcare industry recognizes women as having very different circumstantial and emotional needs. Our clinicians take into account many gender specific issues especially when we design a customized treatment plan.

Research indicates that young women tend to abuse stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine while mature women tend to abuse prescription medications and alcohol such as xanax and wine.

Gender Specific Addiction Treatment

Women delay entry into drug treatment centers for three general reasons; she is paralyzed by shame and cannot bear to tell anyone, she is afraid she will lose her children, spouse and family, she feels helpless from real or imagined reprisals from her spouse, family members or friends.

The Women’s Addiction Center treats a wide array of issues including; nutrition, job skills, planned parenting, sexual orientation, domestic abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, Heroin addiction, Oxycontin addiction, Methadone addiction, Alcoholism, Cocaine abuse, Methamphetamine abuse and Prescription Drug abuse.

Secrets Kill

Women tend to be expert multitaskers. This skill puts women with addictions at a natural disadvantage compared to males. Women learn early on that if they keep the outside looking good it’s easier to hide the demons inside. They have everyone fooled which sets in motion a cascade of negative emotions. Self loathing and self abuse caused from unresolved guilt and shame overwhelms their psyche which causes them to use more. Drugs and alcohol eventually take over. It is like they have been kidnapped in slow motion.

Drug addiction and alcoholism are progressive illnesses that eventually destroy anyone in its path - even the quintessential multitasker. The longer a woman is able to hide what it is that is killing her, the greater the physical and psychological damage.

Experts believe that “secret keeping” is a secondary addiction unto itself. The more dangerous the secret - the worse it will get. The longer kept the secret - the worse it will get. It’s that simple. Secrets become an addiction just like drugs become an addiction. The more dangerous the drug – the worse it will get. The longer the drug is used – the worse it will get. It’s that simple.

Alcohol Carbs and Women?

Alcohol has zero carbs? This is because the liver never metabolizes ethanol into sugar. The liver initially metabolizes ethanol through the process of oxidation into acetaldehyde then into acetic acid and then into water and carbon dioxide. Therefore zero carbs.

Alcohol absorption for women is different from men. When women consume the same amount of alcohol as men, they have higher Blood Alcohol Concentration compared to men. Women are more susceptible to alcoholic liver disease, heart muscle damage, and brain damage. The difference in BAC between women and men is due to the smaller amount of water density in women. Another factor contributing to the difference in BAC between men and women may be that women have lower activity of the alcohol metabolizing enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase in the stomach, causing a larger proportion of the ingested alcohol to reach the blood. The combination of these factors may render women more vulnerable to alcohol toxicity.

Healing

Our treatment program is designed to help women understand what it is that keeps them imprisoned in their addictions.

One of the main reasons why women stay addicted to drugs and alcohol is because they have an unconscious desire to maintain the status quo! They fear change. Healing from alcoholism and drug addiction is about internal and external changes. Healing begins when the addicted woman begins to question her own inappropriate behaviors, her own ineffective values and attitudes, and begin to search for viable alternatives.

Though the road to recovery may be different, the destination is the same - it is the development of positive, healthy, enriching ways of living.

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