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The Roller Coaster Ride of Recovery - Women and Hormonal Shifts
Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 by Wendy Sudiro
Do hormonal changes affecting women in the struggle with addiction and recovery? How women experience monthly hormonal changes, and major life changes such as menopause May include dramatic mood swings, depression and anxiety. How do women cope with these changes may involve risky and unhealthy behavior.
history of addiction among women in this country is long, and is literally laced with opiates. Opiates are used by doctors during the nineteenth century to treat women's illnesses, physical or mental. Women are considered to be less able to tolerate pain were often diagnosed with "hysteria" and to treat opiate addiction.
Today we know that "hysteria" in connection with the emotional effects of hormonal changes in the premenstrual syndrome, perimenopause or menopause. These hormonal changes may themselves be a trigger in some women for addiction cravings and relapse. Other factors, hormonal changes can help a predisposition chemical dependency problems.
We have found through clinical experience that there is some effect of the menstrual cycle and hormonal changes in addiction. Premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual syndrome, is recognized as a critical time in a month for a woman, when the fluctuations of the hormone estrogen has a direct physiological effect. During that time, many women experience increased emotion, sensitivity, anxiety, depression, difficulty concentrating, decreased stamina, insomnia and headaches, all of which can directly affect their relationships, self-esteem and sense of well being. These factors are the return of the trigger that should be recognized in the initial treatment plan of care for women in early recovery.
We know that women and men are differently affected by chemical dependency, with a variety of physiological and physical make-up. We process our feelings and thoughts differently, experiencing trauma and abuse differently, but a few percent of the substance abuse treatment programs are designed specifically for women
.Specific treatment programs for women, such as Hanley Centers Center for Women's Recovery, [http://hanleycentr.org] address women's specific issues, including hormonal changes. Very often, treatment is focused on trauma and abuse issues in the primary treatment. Treatment professionals who work closely with the women estimated that about 85 percent of women in recovery or active addiction were abused, usually sexually. Although women will eventually need to process their trauma issues, to do this immediately carries risks, and could open the floodgates to relapse aktivira.Osjećaj safety and security must first be established during primary therapy.
We have found that women repeatedly report a desire for dependence during PMS. They also told us that menopause or change brought on by menopause have increased substance use or recidiva.Cravings informed about hormonal changes may be most evident in the later stages of a residential or outpatient care, when we hear this: "I just want to go out and use it!"
Validation of women's feelings and relational support are key. We can talk through what it is and why it is a critical time. Once these issues are identified, women find it easier to work through them and find healthy coping mechanisms.
Unfortunately, we have created a population of women who are used to "quick fix" for the discomfort, whether physical, emotional or mental. According to the National Institute for Addiction Research, "... women and men who use sedatives, anti-anxiety drugs and hypnotics, women are nearly twice as likely to become addicted ."
older adult women entering treatment often recognize alcoholism as a problem, but struggle with the reality and the concept of dependence on benzodiazepines. This drug was often prescribed long term for women. In addition, anxiety, hormonal changes traditionally been treated chemically, rather than holistic.
Women are gaining awareness of how hormonal changes affect their daily lives, including the Baby Boomers in the period to post-menopause. Now we can clearly recognize the symptoms of this process. While symptoms vary from individual, it is simply not the actual cessation of menstruation.
There is significant importance of hormonal changes in women who are in the process of recovery from chemical dependency or who are currently active in their chemical dependency. For some women, perimenopause and / or menopause can be debilitating, distracting, disruptive in relationships with family, friends and work, and this can trigger relapse or the appearance of the mid or late stage alcoholism / addiction. Identifying risk factors for relapse or early problems with chemical dependency itself is useful for women, and find support, counseling and, if necessary, the right to gender-specific treatment program is essential.
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