In high school and sometimes sooner, adolescents are confronted with three defiant, yet coaxing opportunities: the option to drink alcohol, to try drugs, and to have sexual intercourse.  Today, most teens have tried at least one. In many cases, these opportunities or behaviors are often linked.  Where alcohol is offered, often so are illicit drugs […]

Teenage girls are using drugs just like the boys, experts say. According to one survey, more than 45 percent of high school girls drink alcohol, more than a quarter binge drink and about 20 percent use marijuana. They are just as likely as boys to abuse inhalants, cocaine, and other illicit substances. They are more […]

Going out every night. Coming home late. Changing social circles. Acting moody. Locking her doors. These are all signs your daughter may exhibit if she is using drugs. They are also signs of typical teenage behavior. As a parent, you are constantly looking out for your child’s health and safety. You have recently noticed some […]

Did you know that, in the United States, 20 percent of women aged 15 to 44 are prescribed an opioid drug? Or that nearly 15 percent of expectant mothers are prescribed painkillers during their pregnancy? Opioids, also known as opiates or painkillers, are highly-addictive prescription pills that are commonly used to treat pain. Under brand […]

Is your loved one compulsively drinking or using drugs? Is your daughter is exhibiting signs of anorexia or bulimia? Are you worried that she may be suffering from both an eating disorder and substance abuse? Your cause for concern is not uncommon among parents of teen girls. Today, many young females are fighting a very […]

Women are built differently from men. They are physically smaller. They carry less water in their bodies. They have hormone fluctuations due to menstruation. They can get pregnant. The list goes on. So to properly approach gender-specific treatment and fully understand how men and women respond to drugs, we must first consider the physiological variances […]

In our last blog post about women and substance abuse, we discussed the narrowing gender gap in drug use among our youth. The years when addiction was more prominent, more worrisome, in men, have now vanished. Today, the rate of substance dependence among young women has become nearly equivalent to that of young men. As […]

Addiction research has long been geared towards men. Twenty-five years ago, there was hardly any substantial research done surrounding women and substance abuse. We did not know the complexities of which drugs intertwined with the female body; we did not know the effects of substances on women; we did not know the patterns of female […]

Trauma is a deeply devastating, emotional response to a stressful or life-threatening event, such as an accident, natural disaster, violence or abuse. In most cases, however, trauma lasts long after an event has subsided. Traumatic experiences can cause an individual to have psychological, emotional, or behavioral issues for months and years after affliction. When most […]