Women Closing Alcoholism Gender Gap

There is often a perception that alcoholics are mostly men. The image of the alcoholic father coming home late from the bar is fairly pervasive. The fact is, there have always been alcoholic mothers as well.

And now the research is catching up with reality. A recent study discusses this growth. Work on this was done by researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri controlled for age-related factors (better recall of events, lower mortality, etc.)

They found that there has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of women who abuse and become dependent on alcohol.

This raises important questions:

- Are the current number of treatment options specific to women's needs sufficient to the task?
- Does previous alcohol research take into account the different needs women will bring to the table?
- What will the effects on families be as more women struggle with alcohol dependence?

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