Dodigamestudios – Survival Games

Sex and Gender Differences in Substance Use Disorders PMC

Substance Abuse in Men

In the National Violence Against Women Survey, 15.4 percent of men who lived with male partners and 7.7 percent of men who lived with female partners reported stalking, physical assault, and/or sexual assault by their partners (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). Other studies, which contextualized domestic violence as family conflict rather than criminal behavior, report higher rates of female-on-male violence, although the types of violence perpetrated and the likelihood of it resulting in injury were inconsistent (George 2003). In a meta-analysis of physical aggression between opposite-sex partners, Archer (2002) found that men were more likely to cause injury to partners but that men still sustained one third of injuries resulting from such acts. Social stigma tied to substance abuse, co-occurring disorders, other behavioral health problems, failure to meet society’s expectations, and other problems can cause intense feelings of shame among men. Shame, in turn, can cause men to avoid needed treatment and can cause their families and friends to deny a man’s substance use problem or try to control or cure him (Krugman 1995; McMillin 1995; Pollack and Levant 1998). It can inhibit a man from looking inward, self-assessing, or experiencing personal deficits, resulting in white-knuckle abstinence and high risk of relapse.

Application Process

Substance Abuse in Men

Often, providers presume that men in treatment should be screened as potential abusers but not as victims of domestic abuse, especially when the man’s partner is a woman (CSAT 1997b). Several studies show that many men with substance use disorders have high levels of anger (Awalt et al. 1999; Giancola 2002b; Parrott and Zeichner 2002; Reilly and Shopshire 2000; Tafrate et al. 2002). Anger can often lead to aggression and violence and can serve as a precipitant for relapse. Teaching men cognitive–behavioral strategies that help them manage their anger can reduce aggression and violence and possibly improve treatment outcomes (Reilly and Shopshire 2000).

Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery Among Men and Women

Some men also use drugs or alcohol in social settings to help them relax or feel more comfortable around others, especially those who are using. Others may use drugs or alcohol to suppress pent-up emotions to appear fine when they’re not. For women, the survey found about 56% of lesbian women were victims of intimate partner-perpetrated violence, but that number was about 46% for heterosexual women. Treatments have also been developed to address the association between intimate relationships and relapse in women with SUDs (Walitzer & Dearing, 2006).

Substance Abuse in Men

Men With Physical Health Problems

For many White Americans, such characteristics as gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic location, occupation, religion, and so forth may be more important than race in defining their sense of cultural identity. Men are at higher risk for violence in our society, and therefore, they are also at higher risk for traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI results from a sudden blow to the skull due to collision (causing a concussion), sudden penetration of the skull, blast pressure waves, or the head being thrust out of position. Even men who do not meet criteria for an eating disorder may develop disordered eating practices (e.g., binge eating, eating to regulate mood) in early recovery, and men in later recovery may feel distress about weight gain that occurs after they stop using substances (Cowan and Devine 2008). Although people may benefit from being part of a clinical trial, they should be aware that the primary purpose of a clinical trial is to gain new scientific knowledge so that others may be better helped in the future.

A key next step in understanding these variables is increasing the representation of women in research to allow for examination of differences among women. The consideration of the intersection of sex, gender, and these variables will provide a richer view on the ways in which SUDs affect all women. Asian Americans generally use alcohol and illicit substances less frequently than other Americans, although there are variations among subgroups.

Discover the impact alcohol has on children living with a parent or caregiver with alcohol use disorder. Find out how many people have alcohol use disorder in the United States across age groups and demographics. Explore how many people ages 18 to 25 engage in alcohol misuse in the United States and the impact it has. Learn how many people ages 12 to 20 engage in underage alcohol misuse in the United States and the impact it has. If your pattern of drinking results in repeated significant distress and problems functioning in your daily life, you likely have alcohol use disorder.

  1. Men who participate in mutual-help groups can be encouraged to engage in service activities related to those groups, and others can seek service opportunities in their communities or religious institutions, or with national or international groups.
  2. Raymond and colleagues (1999) found that 60 percent of a group of 45 pedophiles had a lifetime prevalence of substance use disorders.
  3. 2021 NSDUH report includes selected estimates by race, ethnicity, and age and is the most comprehensive key findings report to date.
  4. Nonetheless, binge drinking is not without its consequences and is generally considered to be a behavior indicative of problematic alcohol use and could contribute to physician impairment and poor patient outcomes.
  5. For example, a large study of men and women treated in prison-based TCs found that men who were employed prior to incarceration were significantly less likely to return to custody in the 2 years after treatment than those who were unemployed, which was not the case for women (Messina et al. 2006).

Data collection and analysis were conducted according the twelve steps as previously mentioned. Five main themes were identified and presented in an analysis model (Figure 2) with one to two subthemes. The main findings of the study indicate that the participants’ drug abuse was often the direct or indirect result of some other factor, or a coping mechanism, especially with regard to traumatic experiences. Findings also indicate a perceived lack of understanding within the health-care system and among the general public that trauma may be the underlying cause of drug abuse, and is thus often overlooked. When someone has a SUD and another mental health disorder, it is usually better to treat them at the same time rather than separately. People who need help for a SUD and other mental disorders should see a health care provider for each disorder.

This can not only complicate addiction treatment but can also make it difficult to spot an addiction in the first place. We did observe an increase in the reported proportion of problematic alcohol use in physicians over the last 15 years from 16.3% to 26.8%. It remains unknown whether this increase is indeed accurate or whether it is due to increased transparency by physicians in self-reporting problematic alcohol use because of a changing culture of medicine. The cut-off for what constituted problematic alcohol use varied between studies using the AUDIT and AUDIT-C. Additionally, 12 studies25,26,35,39-44,46-48 used different scoring cut-offs for problematic drinking based on sex, whereas 19 studies24,27-34,36-38,45,49-54 did not.

Male counselors can use self-disclosure and empathy to reduce the client’s sense of isolation; female counselors can react positively to the client’s disclosure of sexual fears and concerns, thus offering a positive and therapeutic experience. Because of the close relationship between substance use/abuse and domestic violence, substance abuse treatment in and of itself may help reduce domestic violence for some clients (Stuart 2005). Behavioral couples therapy (also known as behavioral marital therapy) is a substance abuse treatment approach designed specifically to improve relationships while also increasing abstinence.

For instance, in a manic episode, clients may use alcohol or sedatives to sleep and/or stimulant drugs to increase the high of the episode (i.e., emotional expansiveness and sense of well-being). In a depressive cycle, clients may use alcohol (even though it is a depressive drug) to dull the pain of their depression and/or stimulants to counteract the effects of the depression. As with substance abuse, although a person may be in remission from his depressive symptoms, the depressive disorder may remain. Treatment must address prevention of and early intervention in recurrences, especially during early recovery from substance use disorders. If a client has a history of a mood disorder, he and his counselor should be on the lookout for a recurrence of symptoms. Social phobia, also called social anxiety disorder, is one of the most common anxiety disorders.

In addition, when the authors analyzed the data by 10-year age groups, they found that for overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl, men had greater rates than women across each group within the entire age range measured in the study. For the three other drug categories assessed, men also had greater overdose mortality rates compared to women across the lifespan, with few exceptions. Due to limited data, for heroin, the youngest and oldest age groups (age ranges and 65-74) were excluded from analysis; for psychostimulants and cocaine, the oldest age group (age range 65-74) was excluded from analysis. National data show need for more research into the diverse biological, behavioral, and social factors underlying differences in sex-based vulnerability to drug use.

He was referred to the prison’s employee assistance program, which referred him to a substance abuse treatment program for evaluation. Having a partner or family member who supports treatment for substance abuse is likely to improve its outcome. When men are not in relationships (or have no children), they are less likely to complete treatment (Rabinowitz and Marjefsky 1998). Men seeking substance abuse treatment may need support and assistance in navigating the child welfare and family court systems. As stereotypes involving substance abuse collide with traditional ideas about family life, men involved in family court proceedings may experience bias that labels them as entirely negative influences to be excluded from the family (McMahon and Giannini 2003).

Male counselors also experience this dilemma when they open up to a clinical supervisor, and their experience of this vulnerability may be used to better understand clients’ feelings. Any strong emotional attraction the male counselor might experience for a male client should also be monitored and addressed in clinical supervision. Due to prescribed masculine gender norms, male counselors might be reluctant to bring https://sober-home.org/9-healthy-things-that-happen-to-your-body-when-you/ up feelings of warmth, love, and emotional attraction for male clients. Clinical supervisors should be nonjudgmental and create a safe relational space for male counselors to bring up any strong reactions they might have to their male clients. Seeking or being mandated to treatment may feel like a weakness and affront to their sense of masculinity; however, such responses may not apply to a particular male client.

However, approximately 12.7 percent of all men will experience an episode of major depression at least once during their lives (Kessler et al. 1994). You can help scientists learn more about the differences and make it possible to draw conclusions that advance health for men and women. NIMH is committed to ensuring that men trying to decide whether to enroll in a clinical study get all the information they need to feel comfortable and make informed decisions. Learn about common risk factors, populations at elevated risk, suicides by drug overdose, treatments, prevention, and resources for finding help. Recognizing the signs that you or someone you love may have a mental disorder is the first step toward getting treatment. Men and women often have different experiences with addiction, and these programs address those unique needs.

Specifically, the telescoping effect has primarily been identified among women who are already in treatment, and likely represent those with more severe SUDs, whereas population-based surveys have failed to replicate the telescoping effect. Thus, this effect might be present only among women who are vulnerable to more severe SUDs, with mitigation of this effect when simultaneously examining women who represent the wide range of substance use severity. https://sober-home.org/ Nicotine dependence is present in 52.3% of women who are current smokers and 9.7% of women overall (CBHSQ, 2016). However, tobacco use prevalence has declined among both males and females over the past decade (CBHSQ, 2016). Across this period, women have consistently displayed lower rates of tobacco use than men (CBHSQ, 2016). In 2015, 18.5% of women ages 12 and older reported past month use of tobacco products, compared to 22.5% of women in 2007.

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