How Addiction Patterns Differ Based on Gender

Drugs are addictive, and they can cause addiction in anyone, from any walk of life. Poor people become junkies just as rich people can, and drug addiction affects people from every corner of the globe. But is there a difference between men and women when it comes to addiction?

Certainly there are many ways similar to this in which males and females differ, but is the susceptibility to becoming an addict one of them? There is certainly a possibility that this could be the case, and a body of scientific research seems to back up this proposition. For example, one study has looked at the way in which hormones may affect a person’s liability to using drugs and becoming an addict. The female hormones estrogen and progesterone influence a person’s response to stress and consequently how the person reacts to taking drugs. Varying levels of these hormones can have a large impact on the manner and scope in which drug use affects a person. The research has demonstrated that women whose progesterone levels are higher tend not to seek out drugs or other addictive substances in response to stress.

Just as higher levels of progesterone tend to stress-proof a woman, estrogen seems to have an opposite reaction. A study which involved giving estrogen to a set of women who comprised the subject group found that they experienced negative moods at higher rates than the control group, who were not given the estrogen shots. Clearly, the female hormones can play a role in setting a woman up to use and abuse drugs, or to be safe from addiction. Further data indicate that women who do use drugs and alcohol are typically faster to become addicts, with a shorter runway between the initial exposure to the addictive substance before developing a full-blown addiction. This could be attributed to higher levels of estrogen, and is also associated with higher rates of relapse caused by stress-induced substance abuse; a woman with elevated estrogen levels might be compelled to go back to drinking or using drugs as a result of this hormonal imbalance. Based on these findings, many in the field of addiction treatment are calling for the exploration and development of gender-specific rehab and treatment methods to account for things such as the effect of hormones on addiction and the role that this plays in causing relapse.

Does Narconon treat men and women differently?

Fortunately, gender-specific addiction treatment, and all the additional cost and work involved in developing such an approach, is not necessary. Narconon works equally well on men and women because it addresses not just the symptoms of addiction but also the cause. As explained by L. Ron Hubbard, whose works form the basis of the Narconon program:

“The addict has been found not to want to be an addict, but is driven by pain and environmental hopelessness. As soon as an addict can feel healthier and more competent mentally and physically without drugs than he does on drugs, he ceases to require drugs.”

Addiction is more than just a physiological response to drugs and alcohol, but a result of a person’s desperation and search for a refuge from the stress and pressure that make life seem overwhelming. The Narconon program includes counseling, exercises and life-skills courses that help the person move from being the effect of life to cause, and which help him or her achieve a newfound level of stability and certainty from which the vicissitudes of everyday living will no longer drive him or her to seeking drugs or alcohol as an escape. Men and women from all walks of life complete the Narconon program with success and go on to live happy, stable and drug-free lives.