Gender And Addiction Research
“Gender may affect susceptibility, recovery, and risk of relapse” (Harvard medical school.) Until the early 1990s, most research on substance abuse and dependence focused on men. That changed once U.S. agencies began requiring federally funded studies to enroll more women. Since then, investigators have learned that important gender differences exist in some types of addiction.
According to our class notes “There are both sex and gender differences between men and women that impact mental health and/or substance use conditions/disorders.” Sex differences are biological which include differences related to our reproductive organs and their functioning. There are also as physical differences such as; body size, bone mass, and bone structure …show more content…
Parents, spouses, and other people close to the addict are slow in accepting the disorder as an illness because they are directly impacted by the disorder too. “They are involved emotionally with the disease process.”
According to our class notes “addictions do not exist in a vacuum.” The term does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), but incorporates elements of both substance abuse and dependence. Addiction involves craving for a particular substance, inability to control its use, and continued use despite the many negative consequences. The effects and dangers for marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogen, opiate, sedative and inhalant use however one aspect of drug addiction stays consistent and that is long-term drug use can cause both physical and psychological dependence. Users can have a hard time limiting their use, they may need more of the drug to get the same effect, and “they may develop problems with personal relationships and their jobs/schooling.” In many cases the drug can become the most important aspect of their …show more content…
After four months, about three in four study participants who received naltrexone (ReVia, Vivitrol) or behavioral therapy plus medical management were either abstinent or drinking moderately.” At the end of one year, overall rates of abstinence among these study participants were still significantly better than at the start of the study. This means that men and women responded equally well to
According to our class notes “There are both sex and gender differences between men and women that impact mental health and/or substance use conditions/disorders.” Sex differences are biological which include differences related to our reproductive organs and their functioning. There are also as physical differences such as; body size, bone mass, and bone structure …show more content…
Parents, spouses, and other people close to the addict are slow in accepting the disorder as an illness because they are directly impacted by the disorder too. “They are involved emotionally with the disease process.”
According to our class notes “addictions do not exist in a vacuum.” The term does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), but incorporates elements of both substance abuse and dependence. Addiction involves craving for a particular substance, inability to control its use, and continued use despite the many negative consequences. The effects and dangers for marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogen, opiate, sedative and inhalant use however one aspect of drug addiction stays consistent and that is long-term drug use can cause both physical and psychological dependence. Users can have a hard time limiting their use, they may need more of the drug to get the same effect, and “they may develop problems with personal relationships and their jobs/schooling.” In many cases the drug can become the most important aspect of their …show more content…
After four months, about three in four study participants who received naltrexone (ReVia, Vivitrol) or behavioral therapy plus medical management were either abstinent or drinking moderately.” At the end of one year, overall rates of abstinence among these study participants were still significantly better than at the start of the study. This means that men and women responded equally well to