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Despite their innate equality, men and women often require different approaches to substance use treatment. This is not a comment on women’s or men’s respective abilities to heal; gender-specific, personalized treatments have been empirically proven to accelerate recovery in many cases, allowing clients to enjoy faster and more permanent change. Although each individual became a drug or alcohol user due to a unique set of circumstances, certain gender-based patterns must be considered when pursuing addiction treatment programs.
At Gulf Breeze Recovery Center, our holistic treatment protocol considers the unique issues that female users face and their unique emotional, spiritual, and physical needs. Contact our team at 833.551.2304 for more information about our gender-specific addiction therapy programs.
Women and men often start to use controlled substances for different reasons. For example, women often rely on these as coping mechanisms for trauma or to tolerate domestic abuse. Because there is a higher expectation for men to use controlled substances and alcohol in social settings, women are more likely to develop these issues in secret. Despite being the fastest-growing demographic to develop problematic relationships with alcohol, they are the least likely to identify as an alcoholic.
In addition, women are more likely to develop a dependency on prescription medication and are more likely to relapse when encountering psychological triggers or acutely stressful events. These tend to develop faster for women than men, so substance use can quickly spiral out of control unbeknownst to friends or loved ones. They are also more likely to develop certain concurrent disorders, such as low self-esteem, chronic anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and body image dysmorphia. Unfortunately, they are also more apt to leave therapy prematurely to attend to perceived responsibilities (for example, for fear they will lose child custody or that no one will be available to tend for an ailing family member).
In addition, an expanding body of research supports that men and women respond differently to various therapeutic interventions, in part because women often receive less social support upon the conclusion of recovery. There are also physiological differences to consider, such as the women’s unique responses to chemical dependency, hormonal reactions, and the impact of body composition on nutritional or pharmaceutical treatments.
The symptoms of alcohol use disorder may be obvious to others, but not to the person who drinks. As a result, many who need treatment never seek it. This is unfortunate because this condition is very common, but it’s highly treatable in the right situation and with the right help.
If you recognize your own challenges in these descriptions, undergoing alcohol detox and inpatient treatment could greatly improve your quality of life. It may improve how you interact with family members as well. And it could save your job and help prevent chronic, alcohol-induced medical conditions such as liver failure.
Common symptoms include:
The overwhelming majority of women also need to explore a concurrent mental health condition while in recovery. Women’s rehab permits clients to enter the specific environment required to investigate the underlying causes for both their substance use and inner pain and identify potential relapse triggers.
The more customized your treatment to meet your needs, the better chance you will find yourself on the road to permanent recovery. Contact our staff at 833.551.2304 to learn about how women’s rehab at Gulf Breeze Recovery can help you permanently break the cycle.
Dr. Lantie Elisabeth Jorandby has dedicated her professional life to treating patients for mental illness and addiction. She’s a nationally recognized expert in the field and is triple-board-certified in general psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and addiction medicine.
Dr. Jorandby graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Neuroscience. She attended medical school and completed her residency at the University of Florida.
After completing her Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Jorandby served as Medical Director for the dual diagnosis unit at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. She also served as faculty at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Jorandby also served as a staff psychiatrist for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Mental Health Supervisor at the VA Outpatient Clinic in Viera, Florida, the third largest Outpatient VA clinic in the country.
Most recently, Dr. Jorandby worked as Chief Medical Officer for Lakeview Health, a co-occurring substance use disorder facility, for five years. During her time at Lakeview, she oversaw the development of treatment programs for Veterans and First Responders and the expansion of the professionals program for the aviation industry and various state monitoring programs for safety-sensitive workers. She also oversaw the development of Koru Spring, a residential eating disorder program, which opened in 2023.
Dr. Jorandby is a frequently sought speaker on the topic of mental health disorders, including eating disorders and co-occurring disorders with addiction, and a regular contributor to Psychology Today. She is passionate about encouraging patients to seek treatment and recovery for mental health, eating disorders, and addiction.
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