Pros and Cons of Gender Specific Rehab
There are many addicts who start their substance abuse because of the situations of their past and present, such as trauma from childhood or sexual assault. There may be situations that can cause a person to lose trust in the opposite gender and when it comes to rehab, the person may feel more at ease in a gender specific rehab. Gender specific treatment for substance abuse can have more success than coed rehabs in certain cases. While men may be more likely to abuse all the different kinds of drugs than women, both need treatment equally.
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Gender Differences in Treatment – Pros and Cons of Gender Specific Rehab
In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of gender specific rehab treatments.
Gender Specific Rehab Pros
A person opting for gender specific treatment for substance abuse does so for several reasons. In some cases, a person may have experienced trauma from the opposite sex, such as sexual assault, making them feel uncomfortable around the opposite sex.
Just being able to completely focus on recovery is another reason why some people use gender specific treatments. There are no distractions from the opposite sex allowing the person to just concentrate on themselves.
Many rehab programs include the use of group therapy sessions. In these sessions, the members of the group are usually asked to share their experience and feelings with the other people in the group. Opening up and sharing deeply personal things and experiences in a group can be nerve wracking enough as is, and doing it in front of the opposite sex can be even more so. A gender specific treatment can help to stop such situations from happening.
Being among the opposite sex in coed rehabs can make a person focus more on their appearance and look than their recovery. It’s only natural. In a male or female only rehab, such problems are not something that needs to be worried about.
A major pro of being in gender specific rehab is the fact that addiction is a complex disease to treat and each person requires a unique approach to their treatment. Treatment plans need to be adjusted to account for things like co-occurring mental disorders, religion, previous treatment programs and the person’s gender. A woman may require a different treatment approach than a man due to their different experiences. One element that gender specific treatment programs excel at is treating people with specific problems related to their gender.
Gender Specific Treatment Cons
There are many reasons why a person could benefit more from coed treatment facilities. For starters, the effectiveness of group therapy is improved by the different types of people that are part of the group therapy sessions. A person is able to learn more from their peers that way.
Rehab aims to prepare a recovery addict to deal with situations in the real world. For this reason, having a coed facility can help to put a person in a situation where they can better practice real-world situations. So, if there are issues that spring from gender related problems, then they can play out in a safe environment where each person can learn to deal with it in a healthy and constructive way without the risk of relapse since there are no drugs or alcohol allowed at the facility.
If you are looking to find coed or gender specific treatment facilities, contact Better Addiction Care today at (800) 429-7690 to locate the ideal rehab center near you.
Resources
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2015).
Greenfield, S. F., Brooks, A. J., Gordon, S. M., Green, C. A., Kropp, F., McHugh, R. K., . . . Miele, G. M. (2007)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2014).
Grella, C. E., Scott, C. K., Foss, M. A., & Joshi, V. (2003)
Evans, E., Murphy, D., Grella, C. E., & Mouttapa, M. (2010).
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)(2020)
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment(2009)
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