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Women and Alcoholism: A Biopsychosocial Perspective and Treatment Approaches
Author(s) -
Walde Heidi,
Urgenson Francine T.,
Weltz Sharon H.,
Hanna Fred J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/j.1556-6678.2002.tb00177.x
Subject(s) - biopsychosocial model , denial , perspective (graphical) , cognition , clinical psychology , psychology , psychiatry , medicine , psychotherapist , artificial intelligence , computer science
Viewing alcoholism in women from a biopsychosocial perspective reveals a unique set of circumstances and challenges that women alcoholics face when compared with men. Biologically, women react differently to alcohol ingestion than do men. Women reach higher blood alcohol levels and sustain more somatic and cognitive damage than men when consuming equivalent amounts of alcohol. Psychosocially, women alcoholics face societal rebuke and chastisement of a greater magnitude than do men. Finally, barriers to treatment faced by women, such as the need for child care, cost of treatment, familial opposition, denial of alcoholism, and inadequate diagnostic training of physicians, must be overcome to create successful treatment approaches for the female alcoholic. Obstacles to and implications for treatment are also discussed.