Marina Martínez: "Addiction implies different things for them"

Gender can be understood as a system of roles that, from social and cultural dynamics, we predisposes us to position ourselves before a series of expectations about what a man and a woman are supposed to do women. This is reflected in practically everything that happens in a society, and even in what is not supposed to happen, such as addiction problems.

Thus, these roles are also expressed in how addiction occurs in men and women. To adapt to this reality, many psychologists place emphasis on the need to take gender into account when helping addicted people and their families. In this interview with the psychologist Marina Martínez Arcos, from the ALTER center, we will talk about this phenomenon.

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Interview with Marina Martínez Arcos: the effect of gender roles on drug use

Marina Martínez Arcos is a health psychologist who is an expert in psychological intervention in adults, specializing in addictions and family violence.. He develops his professional activity at the ALTER treatment center in Barcelona, ​​carrying out group and individual therapies.

How is the consumption of women and what differential characteristics does it have with respect to the consumption of men?

He gender It is a structural axis in our society, which is why it also has repercussions on the motivations for using drugs, choosing the type of drug, the route of administration, the pattern of consumption...

And although there is not a single profile of addicted women, traditionally women had a later age of initiation of consumption, they consumed more Legal and more normalized drugs such as alcohol, tobacco or hypnosedatives were frequently used, and they did so through less risky routes of administration.

Currently, we know that these data are changing in the young population, since the age of initiation of consumption is similar. Despite this, we should not think that consumption is equalizing, since its consequences are not the same for women and men.

In a certain way, consuming in young boys is to be expected, and for this reason they receive less pressure and social punishment.

In the young population we are detecting different motivations for starting consumption. The boys initiate the consumption of substances among equals to reaffirm traditional masculinity, as a ritual to "be a man" and all the characteristics associated with it; be strong, endure, be brave, take risks... While boys start using to be accepted in a peer group, girls start using for other reasons such as avoiding discomfort.

Talking about the consumption patterns of women helps us incorporate the existence of women with addiction into our collective imagination. However, in the treatment centers the majority of the population served are men. Where are the women with addiction problems?

Substance use and addiction have different meanings for men and women; nor is it seen by others and by society in the same way. Addicted women are more penalized and socially excluded, they are subjected to a double or triple stigma, for being women, addicts and "bad mothers". This pressure forces them to develop more techniques to conceal consumption and mechanisms such as denial, thus relegating consumption to the private and solitary sphere.

All these characteristics end up influencing the invisibility of women's consumption. And this fact contributes to women arriving later, lonelier and more vulnerable to treatment. Currently, only 20% of the population treated in treatment centers are women and those who do arrive later, more deteriorated and more alone.

How can we encourage the initiation of treatment in women?

To facilitate access and maintenance of treatment for addicted women, we must include the gender perspective in all areas; from research, prevention, harm reduction, and treatment and intervention. Only then will we be able to see what characteristics their consumption has and what the treatments they need are like. Currently the male consumption pattern is the only model and the treatment is designed with them in mind.

For example, if we take into account the gender socialization that women receive about the importance of ties and care, we will understand that the initial isolation time in an admission center is not the same for a man as it is for a woman, and even more so when this woman has children and daughters. For this reason, facilitating contact and communication with family and social ties, and above all Including sons and daughters in treatment can be essential to overcome some barriers to gender.

Another very common fear in addicted women is the withdrawal of their sons and daughters if they start treatment. It would be essential to carry out dissemination campaigns to destigmatize the treatment of addictions in mothers. At a social level, the sons and daughters of these women go to different agents who can be activators of withdrawal protocols, it is mainly the school that detects negligence and informs services social. On the other hand, being treated is a protective factor in the same situation.

Non-coeducational therapy groups have also shown great effectiveness in creating safe spaces to work on aspects related to abuse, family relationships, violence, fears and insecurities, common emotions such as shame and blame...

However, all these measures are worthless if the gender perspective is not included transversally throughout the intervention, and This implies a review of the entire project and the training and personal review of all professionals who care for addicts.

If ties are important, what role does the family have in the treatment of women with addiction?

In all addiction treatments, the family has an important role before and during. The communication and limits established by the members with whom there is coexistence can promote changes in family dynamics that facilitate awareness of the disease.

Once treatment begins, the woman begins to implement certain changes associated with abstinence and its empowerment, you can set limits with more awareness, you can recover interests outside the domestic sphere or start bonds new.

All of this also has an impact on the people around you, with whom you had a certain way of relating that can be modified. For this reason, directly or indirectly including the couple or the sons and daughters in the treatment can be very positive to work on the repair of the bond.