Women, Drugs and Alcohol

Abstract

While it is clear that both drug misuse and alcohol misuse have increased among women (OPCS, 1992), creating problems for their health, women still lack support from helping agencies (DAWN, 1994; Waterson and Ettore, 1989). This chapter begins with a brief examination of the nature of drug and alcohol misuse which considers the different treatment perspectives and reviews the research evidence. As most of the existing literature does not consider gender issues, the second section examines specifically what the published work can contribute to understanding the nature of women’s drug and alcohol problems. It does so by highlighting the social and psychological issues which underlie female alcohol and drug misuse, the factors which constrain its solutions and the implications for developing service provision.