For female drug users, it is a life of misery and hopelessness

Over the past two decades, health services researchers have successfully identified gender differences in patterns of substance use, health and social effects of substance use, pathways to treatment for substance abuse problems, and substance abuse treatment processes and outcomes.

As a result of the efforts of treatment programmes to address women’s needs, and the efforts of researchers to document the effectiveness of treatment for women, it is known that, in general, specialty addiction treatment is at least as effective for women as it is for men.

Medics blame societal attitudes for the situation where more men than women are coming out to seek help for drug abuse and mental disorders.

They argue that the high number of men admitted to various facilities is a reflection of how the society makes it easier for a man to come out and seek help for drug abuse while at the same time making it difficult for female drug abusers, who are often branded as women of loose morals.

The rareness of research on the treatment needs for women with substance abuse problems has been a serious impediment to the development of empirically validated treatment programmes. Women continue to be seriously under-represented as research subjects and clients of treatment services.

This is disturbing because studies show that female drug abusers suffer greater social and health problems than their male counterparts, which indicates they need more help to resolve the problem.

Substance use disorders may progress differently for women than for men. Women often have a shorter history of using certain substances such as cocaine, opioids, marijuana, or alcohol. However, they typically enter substance use disorder treatment with more severe medical, behavioural, psychological, and social problems. This is because women show a quicker progression from first using the substance to developing dependence.

In the 1970s and 1980s, practitioners and researchers began to call attention to how little was known about providing appropriate care for women with substance abuse problems, particularly alcoholism. Research traditionally had focused on how men fared in substance abuse treatment, and treatment programmes were ill-equipped to help women.

In response, government organisations began to support research and treatment for women, and significant numbers of researchers and practitioners focused on understanding and addressing gender differences in treatment access, treatment provision, and outcomes.

Many women who are pregnant or have young children do not seek treatment or drop out of treatment early because they are unable to take care of their children; they may also fear that authorities will remove their children from their care. The combined burdens of work, home care, child care, and other family responsibilities, plus attending treatment frequently, can be overwhelming for many women. Successful treatment may need to provide an increased level of support to address these needs.

Various barriers experienced by women, particularly those related to stigma, may influence where women seek help, and whether they seek it from a health professional, a self-help group, or from another source, such as a member of the clergy.

Women have been more likely than men to seek help in mental health and primary care settings rather than in substance abuse treatment settings. Recent research suggests that care obtained in these nonspecial settings can lead to poorer treatment outcomes than those achieved at specialty treatment settings.