Women And Substance Abuse

Journalist Jenny Valentish takes a gendered look at drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way. Mining the expertise of 35 leading researchers, clinicians and psychiatrists, she explores the early predictors of addictive behaviour, such as trauma, temperament and impulsivity. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours – such as eating disorders, compulsive buying and high-risk sex – are interchangeable with problematic substance use. From her childhood in suburban Slough to her chaotic formative years in the London music scene, we follow her journey to Australia, where she experiences firsthand treatment facilities and AA groups, and reflects whether or not they are meeting the needs of women. Woman of Substances is an insightful, rigorous and brutally honest read. In Australia it was nominated for a prestigious Walkley Book Award. 'Employing expert interviews and research, each rich personal episode is contextualised within the under-examined issue of women's substance abuse. Detailed, insightful and told with a feature writer's narrative flair' Bookseller and Publisher. 'Engages readers with storytelling while presenting scientific findings and theories in a way that is accessible to a broad audience' Broadsheet. 'Part monograph, part memoir, part Ginsbergian howl of outrage at a culture in which gender bias is a tenet. It is a work of compellingly articulate anger' The Australian. 'In straightforward, lively prose she relates even her darkest moments without self-pity or aggrandisement, and often with a streak of gallows humour, leading to more laugh-out-loud lines than you might expect' The Saturday Paper. 'We need books like this, and writers like Valentish, to give voice to our frustrations and concerns, to help legitimise and mobilise' Kill Your Darlings. 'Valentish's passion lies in exploring the underlying causes and their effects and, in the most female of ways, offering companionship and reassurance for her readers' The Monthly. 'Doesn't mince her words' Sydney Morning Herald.

Some of the problems discussed in this book include women and alcohol, women and minor tranquillisers, women and heroin, women and smoking, and women and food dependence.

These guidelines have been developed to enable professionals to assist women who are pregnant, or have recently had a child, and who use alcohol or drugs or who have a substance use disorder, to achieve healthy outcomes for themselves and their fetus or infant. They have been developed in response to requests from organizations, institutions and individuals for technical guidance on the identification and management of alcohol, and other substance use and substance use disorders in pregnant women. They were developed in tandem with the WHO recommendations for the prevention and management of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure in pregnancy.

For many years, addiction research focused almost exclusively on men. Yet scientific awareness of sex and gender differences in substance use disorders has grown tremendously in recent decades. This volume brings together leading authorities to review the state of the science and identify key directions for research and clinical practice. Concise, focused chapters illuminate how biological and psychosocial factors influence the etiology and epidemiology of substance use disorders in women; their clinical presentation, course, and psychiatric comorbidities; treatment access; and treatment effectiveness. Prevalent substances of abuse are examined, as are issues facing special populations.

Recognizing that men and women have different patterns and different needs, the book emphasizes the relational model of female psychological development formulated by such theorists as Miller, Chodorow, and Gilligan, which illuminates women's functional focus on connection and relationship as opposed to men's on separation and individuation.

This book provides a first in-depth, comprehensive, and evidenced-based overview of the treatment of substance use disorders in the pregnant patient. It provides readers with materials that will not only aid them in identifying, assessing, and understanding the issues involved in treating these women, but also the practical tools to implement the best practices from comprehensive care programs specializing in this sort of treatment. Each chapter strikes a balance between the best scientific information available and reasoned, clinical wisdom to fill in where evidence-based information is unavailable -- all in a form that is practical and accessible. It is a valuable tool for clinicians and service providers across disciplines.

In Women and Substance Abuse: Gender Transparency you’ll see what can be done to aid women in some of the world’s hardest hit substance abuse hubs, including Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New Haven, Connecticut. Filled with timely research and practical solutions, this volume shows you what you can do to aid the tremendous and immediate need for specialized interventions in the lives of women. Women and Substance Abuse considers many of the variables in the lives of women who abuse drugs--race, choice of drug, HIV risk, and drug treatment history--and gives you line-by-line proof of the need for custom-tailored harm reduction strategies for addicted women who are and who aren’t engaged in drug treatment therapy. In addition, you’ll see why frequent cocaine use, current physical and sexual abuse, and concerns relating to children can alter the success of therapies and treatments. Overall, this unique volume will broaden your understanding of the subject by covering: gender differences in risk for gonorrhea infection risk factors for women who trade sex for drugs and money the role of physicians and prenatal care providers of substance abusing women how drug treatment programs can be more multifacted to include planning, prenatal care, and parenting skills prison-based therapeutic communities long-term residential treatment for women with children, pregnant women, and women without children For every unique woman with a drug problem, there is a unique treatment. Women and Substance Abuse turns away from the lost cause of blanket treatments and takes you into the world’s slums and inner-city ghettoes, where the faces of addiction are as diverse as the women who bear its debilitating burdens. You’ll see women’s drug addiction for what it is--a montage of suffering and pain that only individual and specialized care can cure.