Addiction is not just limited to men only, but many of the women are found to be addicted to various drugs. Addiction research was only concentrated on men only for drugs and alcohol. It was mostly among the men who were the participants for studies.
Therefore, medical professionals found a few different issues while treating addictions among women. During the nineties, many U.S. organizations started instituting the requirements for women too as a participant in the study.
After such a new inclusion of women, researchers could discover several differences in addiction among men and women. This difference between male and female is mainly because of their biological as well as sociological differences.
Let us try to understand the few differences between addiction treatment for men and women in this short write-up on the following few parameters.
1. Susceptibility
For men
- Likelihood of getting addicted is more among men.
- Men usually become addicted because of peer pressure or being a part of a certain group.
For women
- Women usually turn from substance abuse to dependence at a faster pace than men.
- Usually women like to self-medicate by using illicit medicines.
2. Recovery
For men
- At lower doses, men can stabilize on substance abuse as compared to women.
- It is more likely that men will experience very intense withdrawal symptoms from alcohol as compared to women.
For women
- Women have more chances to suffer from side effects of substance abuse like liver damage from an overdose.
3. Risk of relapse
For men
- It is very less likely for men to have a risk of relapse i.e. they can live longer from abstinence comparatively.
For women
- It has been seen that women will crave more for the drug as compared to men and their chances of relapse are little more than men.
Also, girls when they are between 12 and 17 years can misuse various prescription drugs more as compared to boys of the same age.