Challenges Women Face in Addiction Treatment and Recovery

As International Women’s Day draws closer, it’s important to remember that while women have seen incredible wins in the addiction field, significant challenges remain. While many women are finding recovery, rates of alcohol misuse remain high, and there remains significant social pressures to overindulge in alcohol.  

Alcohol Use and Addiction is Rising in Women 

Despite drug overdose rates falling on the whole, certain groups continue to face steady or increasing challenges with substance misuse. A lot of this is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, whose legacy is still represented in things like substance misuse data.  

During the pandemic, rates of alcohol use and heavy alcohol use rose, represented in a 2.7% and a 1% rise from 2018 to 2020. These rates were sustained in 2022, suggesting that many Americans continued to use alcohol in the wake of the pandemic. In 2023 alone, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that 27.2 million women in America participating in binge drinking in the past month.

Concerns about women and alcohol misuse are shared by the United States government, whose 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans detailed various risks that women who drink or misuse alcohol may face. Potential risks of women consuming alcohol included the development of heart disease, liver damage, an alcohol use disorder (AUD), brain damage, and various other medical emergencies. It has also been found that regular alcohol consumption can increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 5 to 15%.

Studies have noted that women often face negative health outcomes from alcohol sooner then men, due largely to average differences in body sizes resulting in women metabolizing alcohol at different rates. 

Addiction Treatment and Recovery 

While the challenges that women struggling with alcohol misuse and addiction face can seem immense, there is help available. Evidence-based addiction treatment remains one of the most effective ways to achieve recovery. Studies show that patients who enter into and remain in treatment tend to stop misusing substances and see an increase in medical health as well as psychological, social, and occupational wellbeing. 

As research and addiction treatment techniques expand, new specialized programs are emerging that can help women achieve recovery. Generally classified under the broad umbrella of “gender-specific treatment,” many recovery programs have emerged that are specialized for and focus on helping women achieve recovery from substance misuse and addiction. These programs can be varied, but generally seek to address the unique challenges that women face when receiving treatment, such as relationship and connection problems, pregnancy, child services, trauma, and more.  

The Social Aspect of Recovery 

Another aspect of recovery is the social one, but it can also be difficult to quantify. In her book Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice Not to Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol, Holly Whitaker explores many of the social pressures women face to drink and how these social beliefs and systems can often complicate recovery. In recovery from alcohol addiction, Whitaker details various events in her own life and reflects on the social beliefs that led her to misuse alcohol.  

Through various accounts and analyses, Whitaker dissects how many women are taught to associate alcohol as a natural part of life, integrating it into vital aspects such as emotional processing and socializing. In one poignant passage, Whitaker describes how a friend came to her after a breakup, wanting to drink as one part of a coping method.

During the session, Whitaker’s friend claimed she felt she was going through an “alcoholic phase,” and Whitaker details how she and her other friends could empathize. This section highlights one of the major social and emotional ways that alcohol is unknowingly integrated into the lives of many women, timas an unquestioned coping mechanism.

Whitaker continues her book by dissecting various social norms (the widespread acceptance of drinking at events like parties, clubs, and funerals; the focus on questioning why somebody is not drinking instead of drinking, etc.) and by noting various barriers that women face in treatment, and offering a feminine-centric path toward recovery.  

Help for Women Near Dallas, Texas

If you or a loved one is struggling with alcohol or drug addiction, it’s important to remember that there is help available. Greenhouse Treatment Center offers evidence-based addiction care to people from all over the country. We meet patients where they are, providing various levels of care like detox, inpatient, and outpatient. We also have staff ready to discuss payment options and to help verify your insurance coverage. If you or a loved one is ready to seek help, consider calling us at .