According to the book "Women Under the Influence,"
which is an exhaustive 10-year analysis of substance abuse among girls
and women, girls and young women are likelier than boys and young men
to abuse substances in order to lose weight, relieve stress or boredom,
improve their mood, reduce sexual inhibitions, self-medicate
depression, and increase confidence.
Women in substance abuse treatment are more than five times likelier
than men (69 percent vs. 12 percent) to have been sexually abused as
children and girls and women are likelier than men to suffer eating
disorders, both of which are major risk factors for substance abuse,
CASA reports.
Women studied by CASA were more likely than men to say their heavy
drinking followed a crisis, such as miscarriage, divorce, unemployment
or recent departure of a child from the home.
Older women are likelier than older men to self-medicate with alcohol
and prescription drugs in order to deal with loneliness, financial
insecurity or loss of a spouse.
2 comments:
Amen...I am on day 12 of sobriety.
I struggled with an eating disorder in high school and college. My mother has refused to speak to me since I moved out of state at age 23. This was the same year I began drinking heavily. I seem to fit the profile in your posting.
ha! another thing to 'blame', heee heee heee. naaah, not really! no excuse out there is excuse enough for me to drink anymore...
Post a Comment