Women's Drug Abuse

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a condition that causes the subject great distress including reliving a traumatic event. PTSD can come about as a result of  experiences with many horrific situations including:

• rape
• war
• natural disasters
• abuse
• serious accidents or
• from observing or hearing of a violent or catastrophic incident

Substance abuse  frequently manifests itself in women with PTSD.  PTSD in both men and women can possibly increase the need for drugs or alcohol. As a result, self-medicating is often used as a way of mitigating the traumatic feelings associated with PTSD. Over 27 percent of women that suffer from this disorder resort to drugs and alcohol. Considering that almost half of women will experience a traumatic event in their lifetime, there is the potential for significant abuse. Sexual assault is the most common cause of PTSD.

Some good ideas to help with PTSD are to find a therapist, join a support group, and find a peer mentor or meditation.  Sharing your fears, feelings and experiences can help lessen the burden.

Women are five times more likely than men to have suffered from abuse as a child. It is no wonder, therefore, that many women who enter treatment list sexual abuse as one of the contributory issues to their substance abuse.

Further compounding the problem is that this abuse is perpetrated by a family member about 30% of the time, by a friend or family friend 60% of the time and by strangers only 10% of the time. Since the perpetrator is often so close to the family, it stands to reason that many sexual abuse cases are never even reported. Often, a child, worried about not being believed, or scared of the perpetrator’s reaction, will never say a word and harbor their pain well into adulthood. This pain can affect their lives in many ways and can be triggered at any time.

This pain can cause substance abuse – an attempt to suppress the pain with a substance that offers an escape. Unfortunately, it is extremely hard for these women to fight the addiction on their own – while they may be able to quit the substance now and then, the underlying issues have not been addressed. It is for this reason that women in this situation must be treated by specialized professionals.

Depression is an extremely complex and serious condition that in many cases can be debilitating for weeks and even months. Depression not only affects the subject’s life, but also the lives of family and friends who may be trying to help or understand the root cause of the problem.

Women experience depression twice as often as men even though the symptoms for both genders are similar. Women also tend to experience individual symptoms more often than men.

The causes of depression vary drastically, however many women decide that the cure to their depression is self-medication. As the medication (drug or alcohol) is taken, the body and mind become dependent on the high the medication provides. As a result, getting off the medication becomes very difficult. In these circumstances, the abuser should seek professional help in a program that treats both the substance abuse and the depression and underlying psychological issues.

It is a specialized treatment center, such as Destination Hope, that can most effectively determine, understand and treat the problem.