Inclusion criteria for the qualitative study comprised adult women at risk of homelessness (currently homeless or engaging with SHS due to their risk of homelessness), who also had a history of substance use disorder and a history of seeking treatment for this. Women were recruited through the service’s networks and by approaching service providers and clinicians. Potential participants were asked to speak with the research staff directly to express their interest in participating.
Coping and support
Following receipt of an expression of interest, research staff provided potential participants with relevant information and documentation. This process was facilitated by the rapport developed between housing service staff and participants and included addressing practical issues such as access to telephones and internet. Along with these recommendations, other strategies support gender-sensitive research. First, early in the planning stage, researchers should ensure that the research plan matches the intent of the study. Gender comparison designs are appropriate for discerning unique characteristics of women who use drugs, such as time between first use and SUD and treatment-seeking patterns. However, gender-specific (women-only) designs are typically more suitable for addressing questions primarily relevant to women, such as substance use in pregnancy.
Reaching recovery through transitional housing
Talk to your doctor about whether taking naltrexone every time before you drink might be an option for you. Because it engages people with alcohol-treatment professionals, it may help lead people to better recognize the extent of their problem while also giving them the hope and motivation johns hopkins scientists give psychedelics the serious treatment to keep working toward giving up alcohol. Symptoms include unusual bleeding or bruising, dark urine, yellowing of the skin or eyes, and pain in the upper right part of the abdomen. If you experience such symptoms after taking naltrexone, you should contact your doctor immediately.
History of the Sinclair Method
After discussion with you, your health care provider may recommend medicine as part of your treatment for opioid addiction. These medicines can reduce your craving for opioids and may help you avoid relapse. Medicine treatment options for opioid addiction may include buprenorphine, methadone, naltrexone, and a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone. For these and other reasons, it’s important to have gender-specific rehab programs that meet the needs of each woman who enters addiction treatment.
What kind of therapy or treatment setting is most productive for women with substance use disorders?
They can discuss your current drinking behavior, medical history, and treatment goals to better determine if the Sinclair Method might be a good fit. While naltrexone is usually tolerated well, it can have side effects that can range in severity. The most common side effects involve increased nervousness, muscle or joint pain, headache, nausea, and upset stomach. In most cases, these side effects are mild and lessen with time as people become more accustomed to the medication or can be minimized by taking the medication with food. Regular naltrexone use can also increase the sensitivity of opioid receptors, a process known as upregulation.
- Women are more likely than men to experience chronic pain, seek treatment for pain, be prescribed an opioid drug, and abuse the opioid.
- Addressing this crisis requires a collective effort from individuals, communities and institutions to create a supportive environment for recovery and prevention.
- More outcome research is needed to evaluate the role of co-occurring disorders among pregnant women and the impact of treatment for co-occurring disorders on prenatal and postnatal care.
- If it is in-network with insurance carriers, it may accept a number of private insurance plans or Medicaid.
The social and economic repercussions of prescription drug addiction for women are equally devastating. Addiction can strain relationships with family and friends, leading to social isolation and a lack of support. Women may face difficulties maintaining employment or fulfilling parental responsibilities, resulting in financial instability and increased stress. Although there are clear harms to breastfeeding by women with active substance use, substance use in the third trimester should not disqualify women who are not using substances at delivery and are motivated from initiating breastfeeding. Women-centered recommendations paired with ongoing screening, home lactation visiting programs, and SUD treatment support could facilitate successful breastfeeding among substance-exposed mother-infant dyads.
“It doesn’t matter whether you have addictions or mental health issues — it’s a necessity for everybody,” said Baxendale. Following a breakdown in a long-term relationship, she ended up experiencing addiction, and lost her job, vehicle and house in the process. With support from her family, she attended treatment outside the province and then got into housing. “When somebody’s ready to quit, they need to be able to access those resources right away, and sometimes that’s just not an option for people,” said Aggamway, a former client of EFSNWO who experienced addiction for more than a decade.
This disordered use of food masks depression, anxiety, and other symptoms expected to surface during the treatment of substance use, leaving the therapist with no view of the woman’s coping abilities without any compulsive and disordered behavior. Eating disorders may coexist with alcohol and drug consumption in other ways (John et al. 2006). Diuretics, laxatives, emetics, stimulants, heroin, tobacco, and thyroid hormone may be attractive to a woman with anorexia or bulimia because of their weight-loss potential or their ability to facilitate vomiting (Bulik and Sullivan 1998).
Firstly, a demand for a life in order, considered the conditional nature of health care access for this cohort and the requirement for women to have a suitably stable lifestyle. Secondly, the theme of being unwell, unsafe and crack cocaine symptoms and warning signs a woman, explored the multifaceted needs of women as a challenge to the health care system. And finally, the theme of abuse vs. humanity, spoke of the power within health care encounters to reduce or elevate the patient.
A strong relationship exists between eating disorders and depression, self-inflicted violence, and suicidal tendencies (APA 2000a; Kuba and Hanchey 1991). Most women with eating disorders meet DSM-IV criteria for at least one personality disorder, such as borderline, histrionic, or obsessive–compulsive personality (Zerbe 1993). Although it may be difficult to determine whether the depression or substance use disorder is primary, both need to be identified and treated concurrently to minimize relapse and improve a client’s quality of life.
This process occurred over several months to provide significant reflection and discussion between authors. Women were invited to participate in a focus group, which was held online (by Zoom) due to COVID-19 related lockdown restrictions. Participants were reimbursed AU$50 (in voucher form) for their participation in the focus group. For women who had challenges accessing suitable technology, they were invited to attend the clinical service on-site and were supported to attend the focus group from a clinical room computer. Additionally, programs need to be developed in a way that is sustainable, despite potential disruptions by changing political climates and local laws.
For clients who are hesitant to use medications or when the use of medication is contraindicated, CBT and IPT are viable options but appear far less effective when depression is severe (Luty et al. 2007; Markowitz 2003). Carefully maintained boundaries between the counselor and the client maximize the effectiveness of the therapeutic relationship and ensure that treatment does not re-create the original trauma. For example, counselors should not physically intrude on a client who is “shut down”—does not want to be touched. Grella (1999) concluded that pregnant women were more likely to spend less time in treatment, and that pregnancy interrupted treatment. In another retention study among women, women who entered treatment late in their pregnancies had good retention whereas women who entered treatment in their first trimester tended to leave treatment early (Chen et al. 2004). Discover why personalized treatment plans are crucial for overcoming substance use disorders.
It is this specific knowledge that can facilitate services to address the barriers in a way that is consumer focused and inclusive. In many areas globally, women’s drug use is highly stigmatized, and women are publicly shamed, deterring them from seeking out or engaging in treatment. The field demands the development of gender specific and culturally sensitive approaches that can identify women who need treatment and engage them in care, while delivering broader public health messages to reduce stigma.
Trauma treatment begins with the start of substance abuse treatment and needs to be conducted in a careful and clinically sensitive manner. It is not always clear when and under what conditions it is helpful marijuana cannabis, weed to a client to tell her trauma story. Sometimes results of this work are positive, but the telling can be harmful when the client does not yet have coping resources to handle the intense telling.
Nor is it always beneficial to delay working on trauma symptoms until the client has been abstinent for a predetermined minimum amount of time. The counselor should focus on the client’s current crisis and stabilizing her affect. Women are more likely to become victims of intimate partner abuse (Catalano 2007), and men and women become victims of interpersonal violence under different circumstances. Women often experience violence in the privacy of their home (Catalano 2007; Covington 2002a; Tjaden and Thoennes 2006).