What Types of Rehabilitation Programs are Available for Women?
Most women feel more comfortable with members of the same gender. They can benefit from programs that address common barriers to seeking treatment. This may include childcare, family responsibilities, and co-occurring burdens of work life. There are different types of programs to address these needs and underlying issues.
Substance use treatment for women may consist of some or all of the following:
- Detoxification programs are generally mixed-gender because it is usually a short stay before transitioning to treatment. However, this is not to say that women-only detox does not exist.
- Women’s inpatient treatment centers. This includes women-only facilities and mixed gender. A short-term program lasts between 28 to 60 days, and a long-term lasts three to twelve months.
- Women outpatient treatment centers. This includes women-only options and mixed-gender. Some outpatient programs are specific to treating and helping women, for example, women’s shelters.
- Aftercare support for women. Twelve-step peer support groups are generally always mixed-gender unless specified. Sober living homes, however, are gender specific.
How Do I Choose a Women-Only Drug Rehab Center?
There are some things to consider when choosing a women-only drug rehab center. Firstly, the program should be capable of addressing the unique needs of women and offer supportive services for women in recovery from addiction. In addition, consider the following:
- The program should offer evidence-based treatments tailored to the needs of women.
- The treatment plans should adapt to the client’s needs throughout the program.
- It should provide sufficient treatment duration.
- It should promote aftercare support for women.
Ask a Professional
What is a women-only drug rehab center?
These are drug rehab centers that offer substance use treatment to women only. The counseling and therapy approaches are geared toward women and the issues they face while addicted to drugs or alcohol. Options include outpatient and residential drug rehab centers.
What is the benefit of a women-only drug rehab center?
There are significant benefits because it offers a safe environment. For many women, their addiction is linked to trauma, whether sexual assault or domestic violence. Drug rehab centers address gender-specific relapse issues. In addition, it offers healing approaches specific to women’s needs.
Why choose a women-only drug rehab program?
Women select gender-specific drug rehab because of the safety and security it provides. In addition, the counseling and therapy approaches are specific to address women’s needs. Aftercare planning and recovery support are also specific to the needs of women leaving drug rehab.
Want to know more?
The questions from Addicted.org’s “Learn from our Experts” are answered by Michael Leach, CCMA. If you need further clarification on any of the questions above or have any other questions you can contact him directly at mike@addicted.org.
Common Reasons Why Women Abuse Drugs or Alcohol
Most girls and women initiate substance use during crucial years. Substance abuse is often tied to the stress and pressures experienced during the teenage and young adult years. Many women experience trauma in early life or even later in life. Among adolescent girls attending treatment, nearly twice as many girls than boys report sexual or physical abuse in their lifetime. Unfortunately, if proper counseling or therapy is not received, the trauma from this abuse persists into adulthood. Also, there is the stress and inability to cope. In most cases of severe stress, young women become depressed and withdrawn. Many women report an inability to cope with stress as the main reason for using drugs. Stressful life events also contribute to substance abuse.
Low self-esteem and confidence also cause women to abuse drugs or alcohol. Body image and social image at a young age creates significant points of stress. Drugs and alcohol become a way of coping, and it slowly develops into an addiction. Young women often face social pressures, such as with a new school or new job, and women attending university or college struggle with academic pressures. Many of these addictions begin with alcohol or prescription drugs. The most commonly used substances among women are alcohol, nicotine, and prescription medications. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 4.1% of women aged 18 and older had an alcohol use disorder.
Overall, women tend to have different circumstances that men do not often experience that inform their decisions to use and abuse drugs or alcohol. However, like men, women use drugs to reduce stress, lose weight, and face certain demands of society. Countless addictions begin with self-medication and excessive drinking. For example, there is a strong connection between substance abuse and eating disorders. Among cases of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, approximately 85-90% are women, and about 50% of women with eating disorders also have a substance use disorder.
According to the SAMHSA, women often report that stress, negative affect, and relationships precipitate initial substance use. Relationships, relationship status, and the effects of a partner’s substance abuse significantly influence women. Women dependent on substances are more likely to have partners with substance use disorders. SAMHSA also points out that factors that encourage women to stay in treatment include supportive therapy, a collaborative therapeutic alliance, onsite childcare, children services, and other integrates and comprehensive treatment services. Also, within the report, women have comparable abstinence rates with men and are as likely to complete treatment. Women are also more likely to have positive treatment outcomes in terms of less incarceration, higher rates of employment, and more established recovery-oriented social support systems.
