Female Addicts Yves St.OuiRain Friday, September 14, 2007 While working with female addicts and alcoholics in an inpatient rehabilitation facility, I was able to learn, first hand, many womens accounts of their nightmare into drug addiction. What I learned definitely an oxymoron, for while the reasons are most complex, they are also most simple. I found out that many stereotypes were way off mark and I learned a whole lot from these women. For one thing, they were by no means stupid, far from it! They came from a lifestyle that took a whole lot of thinking and arranging to 'score'. It gave them a unique power to call upon when getting clean, using this power to help themselves instead of using it to score dope. I also learned that at least half the women came from families with money and had no trouble paying for their habit. Sure, many were struggling, just like those of us in 'acceptable society', but there didn't seem to be a huge disparagement of 'poor folks' on drugs. It is an equal opportunity disaster, hitting the wealthy, the poor and all those in between. I would safely say that half of the women were 'dual diagnosis', meaning that they had an underlying concomitant mental health issue, as well as drug addiction. Many were clinically depressed, or had terrible anxiety, which was why drugs of abuse appealed to them in the first place. They were getting treatment for these mental health issues as a part of getting rehabilitation. Most of the younger women, I would say aged 18-22 got into drugs to be with a particular guy. I was pretty shocked by this, but it was really common. They said their boyfriends turned them onto it. Many of the older women (older for an addict is pretty much anyone over 30....drug addiction is a really hard lifestyle and addicts don't live to be 'old'. You don't see many 65 year old heroin addicts!) came from abusive relationships. Abused at home, then by men in their lives. A few of the women were totally neglec... |