Drug addiction is a disease that doesn’t discriminate. However, everyone who suffers from it has a different experience. Addiction varies between women and men for many reasons. Addressing these differences allows womens addiction treatment to provide unique benefits.

Addiction Affects Women Differently

A female counselor talks to a female client at a womens addiction treatment centerWomen’s biology is different from men’s, affecting how their bodies process and respond to alcohol and drugs. Women have less body water, so their blood alcohol concentration rises faster. They also have less of the enzyme that metabolizes alcohol, so it stays in their bloodstreams longer. In addition, women’s brains atrophy similar to men’s brains even when they drink less.

For those reasons, women don’t have to drink as much alcohol as men to feel its effects. These factors contribute to women being more vulnerable to the physical and mental effects of drinking. They also make finding a women’s addiction treatment center favorable for recovery.

Hormones and Ovulation

Fluctuations in hormone levels are another biological reason why addiction affects women differently. The menstrual cycle can even change how addiction works. For example, rat experiments show that estrogen variations impact how the animals respond to cocaine. This finding may explain why women are more responsive to cocaine and could develop more severe cocaine use disorders.

In other research, women have said that they don’t feel as high after they ovulate compared to just before. Their estrogen levels fall just after ovulation but rise to their highest prior to it. It’s also possible that they’re more vulnerable to relapse during ovulation.

Scientists believe that estrogen makes women more receptive to drug effects because it activates drug receptors. It makes women feel the effects faster and increases their risk for addiction. When the disease manifests, womens addiction treatment becomes essential.

Furthermore, neuroimaging of women shows that their brains are more active than men’s when they use cocaine. The regions that are more active assess the pleasure from the experience and connect it with the consequences. Researchers haven’t found this link in men.

Greater Risk for Mental Health Issues

Furthermore, women are at risk for developing an addiction because they’re more likely than men to have anxiety or depression. They also have a heightened response to trauma, so they have a greater risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. These mental health issues commonly accompany substance use disorders. A womens addiction treatment center can address these dual diagnosis cases.

How Womens Addiction Treatment Differs

Gender-specific addiction treatment generally offers the same programs and services as co-ed treatment. With women-focused treatment, however, doctors and therapists tailor the content of those services according to women’s needs.

Women are already less likely to seek help because they feel like their family obligations should come before their needs. Also, society sees women as caregivers, so they feel ashamed if they have to seek a womens addiction treatment center. Because of that, many women leave before they complete their programs. Doing so puts them at risk for relapse, which could endanger themselves and others.

Women-focused treatment can motivate them to finish the programs. Women are naturally better than men at identifying issues and correcting them. The staff for womens addiction treatment can use this strength and others to encourage program completion.

Gender-specific programs also facilitate the desire that women have to be part of a group. Seeing similarities between their own experiences and others’ situations reduces the feeling of isolation. This emotion is very common among people with addiction.

In addition, co-ed treatment has to cover all of the needs of men and women. However, sometimes it’s impossible to focus on everything. Because of that, group therapy sessions can spend too much time on one gender or topic. Getting women-focused care avoids that problem.

Get Women-Focused Care at Santé Center for Healing

If you want a women’s addiction treatment center, Santé Center for Healing fits the bill. Our facility in Argyle, Texas, treats a range of substance use disorders. We offer detox, rehab, and aftercare for alcohol, heroin, and other drugs. We even treat mental health disorders, eating disorders, and trauma.

At Santé Center for Healing, you can recover from addiction in an intimate setting. Our goal is to help you maintain long-term recovery through womens rehab. To achieve that objective, we use a range of traditional and alternative therapy methods, including:

Don’t hesitate any longer to get the addiction treatment that you need. Learn more about our womens addiction treatment center. Call Santé Center for Healing at 866-238-3154 to talk to our friendly staff.