Psychologists and alcoholic women

When is domestic violence a hidden face of addiction?

This article reviews studies that address the comorbidity of domestic violence, addictive disorders, and sexual abuse, and presents a model in which domestic violence parallels the chief features of chemical dependency. Domestic violence and addictive disorders share a number of behavioral features, including loss of control, continuation of behavior despite adverse consequences, preoccupation or obsession, development of tolerance, and family involvement. Domestic violence predisposes the next generation to both domestic violence and addictive disorders. Sexual abuse within the family of origin and/or the couple relationship is a common feature of both domestic violence and substance addiction, and predisposes to both disorders in the next generation. Clinicians encountering patients who are perpetrators or victims of domestic violence or sexual trauma, or have addictive disorders, must assess for the presence of comorbid problems.

Eating pathology among women with alcoholism and/or anxiety disorders

Two hundred one non-treatment seeking women with alcoholism, anxiety disorders, alcoholism and anxiety disorders, or neither alcoholism nor anxiety disorders were interviewed to assess core psychopathology associated with eating disorders using the Eating Disorders Examination and DSM-IIIR psychiatric diagnoses using the Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime version. Alcoholic women had significantly higher mean scores on each of the Eating Disorders Examination subscales of Restraint, Overeating, Eating Concern, Shape Concern, and Weight Concern compared with nonalcoholic women. Women with anxiety disorders had significantly elevated scores on subscales of Overeating, Eating Concern, and Weight Concern compared with women without anxiety disorders. Women with both alcoholism and anxiety disorders had higher rates of bulimia nervosa and/or eating disorder NOS compared with women with either disorder alone. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the co-morbid association between alcoholism, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders.

A comparison of a specialist women's alcohol and other drug treatment service with two traditional mixed-sex services: client characteristics and treatment outcome

Eighty subjects from a specialist women's service (SWS) and eighty subjects from two traditional mixed-sex treatment services (TMS) were recruited to a comparative, longitudinal study of changes in alcohol and other drug associated problems. Both the SWS and the TMS programs were principally based on the traditional disease model and the 12-step philosophy but the SWS employed only female staff and provided residential childcare. The SWS succeeded in attracting significantly more lesbian women, women with dependent children, women sexually abused in childhood and with a maternal history of substance dependence than the TMS. Six months following treatment there were no significant differences in any measure of treatment outcome between the two treatment groups. The results suggest that the simple provision of women-only treatment and childcare without changing treatment content does not substantially improve treatment outcome in women with severe alcohol and other drug related problems.

A comparison of women seeking drug and alcohol treatment in a specialist women's and two traditional mixed-sex treatment services

The paucity of research on the treatment needs of women with substance abuse problems has been a serious impediment to the development of empirically validated treatment programmes. Women continue to be seriously under-represented as research subjects and clients of treatment services. This study compares the characteristics of 80 women attending a specialist women's treatment service with those of eighty women attending two traditional mixed-sex treatment agencies. Women attending a gender-sensitive service were significantly more likely to have dependent children, to be lesbian, to have a maternal history for drug or alcohol problems and to have suffered sexual abuse in childhood. These results suggest that gender-sensitive treatment services may be recruiting women who might not otherwise have sought treatment for their substance dependence problems.