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 used to be unable to get drunk, are becoming more involved in drinking.
This is a vulnerable category of society, it is difficult for them to bear the unstable situation, stress and everyday problems. But women are mothers, the foundation of the family and the educators of the younger generation, so this epidemic must be stopped.
The development of the problem of female alcoholism
Just 20 years ago, female alcoholics made up a small proportion of drinkers and avoided alcohol treatment. They were ashamed of their illness and hid it. Gradually, more and more representatives of the fair sex began to ask for help. Now their ratio compared to male alcoholics has increased significantly. The number of drinking women who want to recover has increased. The difficulty is that quitting drinking is not that easy. It is not easy to force yourself to live a sober life.
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 to help him stop drinking. And the husband can leave his drinking wife, who shames him and sets a bad example for his children. Native children do not want to see their mother lying somewhere drunk and forgotten about them.
The opinion that female alcoholism is incurable has strengthened. The roots of this myth lie in the negative social perception of female drunkenness and the fact that a woman keeps quiet about her problem for a long time and the disease is neglected. Condemning female drunkenness interferes with the rapid initiation of treatment and is 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 the right decision for treatment. If a person wishing to get better could persuade his girlfriend to stop drinking, the recovery rate would be higher. Unfortunately, this is not possible. You have to give up alcohol yourself. And the help should consist of making the drinkers aware of their addiction.
Why do women start drinking?
For psychological or emotional reasons, a girl or woman makes you drink. He is emotional, mentally injured more easily, and experiences life's events more strongly. It doesn't have to be a dysfunctional, marginalized woman to begin with. Even non-outwardly successful representatives of the beautiful suffer from alcoholism from time to time and cannot stop drinking. The main reasons for the development of abuses are the following:
- Stressful circumstances due to an unorganized life, lack of money, pressure from superiors and colleagues at work, or the older generation of family living nearby.
- Concerns about the relationship with your spouse, lack of attention, betrayal, rudeness, frequent absences from home.
- Inability to spend free time, boredom, lack of hobbies.
- The absence of family, immersion in work during the day, and emptiness in the evening.
- Loneliness, especially sudden: the death or departure of a husband or the loss of other loved ones.
- Insomnia, desire to normalize sleep.
- Dieting, an attempt to suppress hunger with food restrictions.
- Heredity, alcoholism among ancestors.
- Menopause, increased physical and mental discomfort 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 less than that of a man, the absorption of alcohol is faster. The enzyme that helps break down alcohol is less active, and female sex hormones are incompatible with the breakdown products of alcohol.
Due to the peculiarities of physiology and the emotional sphere, a woman can become addicted to alcohol twice as fast. When a man is in the initial stages of alcoholism and has just started drinking, a woman already feels a noticeable need for booze.
Stages of alcoholism
They are the same for men and women. Dividing it into stages helps to assess the severity of the disease and the complications that arise in this stage. Finding a patient with alcoholism at one stage or another requires a different treatment approach.
- Section I.A craving for alcohol appears and develops. A woman gets pleasant sensations from drinking and wants to repeat them. This is how mental addiction appears. A woman's desire to find herself in situations where she can drink more often. He is looking for a reason and the right company. If you observe a woman, you may notice her atypical behavior and increased drinking. He explains this by saying that he felt bad, wanted to rest, or was worried about problems - family or work.
He cannot objectively assess that drinking has become more frequent and refuses to stop. He reacts sharply to comments and refuses to analyze his behavior. Conflicts with those who want to force him into sobriety. To stop the pressure from the outside, the woman starts drinking secretly.
- section II.Mental dependence has already developed, the mood depends on whether the woman has been drinking or not. Physical dependence develops, the alcoholic gets a hangover. He often drinks a little every day, less often he goes on multi-day binges, followed by a break. But quitting drinking is already very difficult.
The female body begins to fade quickly. External signs of persistent alcoholism appear. An unkempt appearance, hiding gray skin under decorative cosmetics, bags under the eyes and a swollen face reveal a woman who drinks. His voice will be harsh and hoarse. The behavior shows aggressiveness, hysteria, frivolity, willingness to take responsibility and alienation from loved ones. He will be sexually unusual and have gynecological diseases. Memory weakens, lethargy and hand tremors appear.
- section III.Physical dependence has developed, a woman can hardly function without alcohol. Irreversible changes occurred in the organization. There are significant disturbances in the mental sphere and internal organs.
The disorders characteristic of this stage are: alcoholic encephalopathy, polyneuropathy, permanent loss of 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 become a way of life, the personality is ruined. He lost his job and nearly all of his loved ones, who were desperate to see him sober. He has no interests other than alcohol.
When to start treatment
To begin treatment, a woman must understand that she is an addict. Forced treatment will not be beneficial. The desire to stop drinking must be developed by oneself, with the support of loved ones. You should not leave him alone and listen to the accusations. You need patience from your loved ones. The girl must help her parents, especially her mother.
In the first two stages of the disease, he is able to recognize that alcohol leads to troubles and shameful acts. It should also be understood that alcoholic beverages do not solve your problems, but only aggravate them. 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, it must be explained that all is not lost, as it is capable of reasoning and being aware of itself.
No need to waste time on traditional healers and charlatans. They promise to get you sober with one or more short treatments. Neither the price nor the publicity of such services guarantee success.
Upon receiving consent for treatment, the woman must go to the hospital, where they provide assistance to patients receiving drug treatment. Getting rid of alcohol addiction is a complex and long process. It can only be performed by a specialist, using complex methods: medicinal and psychotherapeutic.
What is medical care?
Treatment methods for female alcoholism are very diverse. The specialists of the drug treatment hospital select an individual treatment package based on the characteristics of the women admitted for treatment. The following are used during treatment:
- Preparations for detoxification and rapid removal of alcohol decomposition products from the body.
- Medicines specialized to develop an aversion to alcohol.
- Medicines for the correction of disorders resulting from alcohol abuse (cardiological, neurological, endocrinological, psychiatric spectrum and other acquired pathologies).
- Complex psychotherapy, help from a psychologist, participation in group and individual sessions to solve personal problems and emotional relief.
- Maintenance blockade of opioid receptors. Support coding, hypnotherapy. These methods should only be used in conjunction with other medical and psychotherapeutic interventions. Isolated exposure has virtually no effect, as motivation for sobriety outside of complex therapy quickly fades.
What drives a woman to get sober?
The most important factor that drives a woman to return to sobriety is acceptance by loved ones. One often recovers to regret someone and try to prove that one is not completely lost. And the women are trying to get sober again for some important purpose. It is important for them to see that people believe in them.
A patient suffering from alcoholism may be driven to sobriety by the desire to feel loved and wanted again.A woman wants to start a family and she needs to show her best side. When she meets someone she likes, she yearns to get married and become 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; this stimulus may not work for them.
A woman in her desire to remain healthy and feminine is able to overcome the difficulties of the recovery period. It's important to know that unlike monotonous binges, which ultimately end just as tragically, recovery provides a full and varied life. The experience of hundreds of thousands of women who have already freed themselves from alcoholism proves this.