Psychological intervention in substance abusing women: A theoretical review

Abstract

Drug use remains today one of the health problems of greatest concern to society. According to the most recent state epidemiological data, women's consumption continuously increases, becoming more and more similar to that of men. However, this same trend does not occur in terms of access to treatment, and when women seek treatment, there is a marked difficulty in adherence to treatment as abandoning it is often the case. Such is the importance of meeting the specific needs of substance-abusing women, that it is even highlighted as a priority and an integral element of the latest Action Plan on Drugs 2013-2016 (Plan Nacional Sobre Drogas, 2013a). In this sense, at the empirical level, researchers have started to study the possible differences men and women may present in drug treatment, as well as the development of a gender-specific treatment. The aim of this theoretical review paper is to analyze the elements that characterize drug dependent women, establishing what aspects should be taken into account in the intervention with women from previous research or from on-going research, suggesting its implementation and future research directions.