References to the prevalence of alcoholism among women are found in legislative acts prohibiting drunkenness in the 16th century. If in the 19th century Alcoholism among women was an extremely rare phenomenon, now women make up 14-19% of alcoholics. Over the past decades, the ratio of men and women who abuse alcohol has been changing towards an increase in the number of women. Thus, according to researchers, in 1969 this ratio was 5: 1, and in 1999 it was already 3: 1.The increase in the number of women who abuse alcohol is indirectly evidenced by the increase in their number among patients in psychiatric hospitals (up to 17.6% in 2000). Researchers have noted an increase in the number of alcoholics from 10 to 13.5% of the total number of these patients over the period from 1999 to 2006. According to the same researchers, 24% of alcoholics are women.
According to the Moscow Psychoneurological Dispensary: ??668 families, the children of which were under the supervision of the dispensary, in 31% of families the incidence of children is associated with alcohol abuse by the mother. Researchers note that the number of women suffering from chronic alcoholism has increased in recent years by almost 8.5 times.
The spread of alcoholism among women is also registered in foreign countries. In particular, in Germany the number of alcoholics reaches 1 million, of which about 300 thousand are women of childbearing age. In the USA the number of alcoholics is 6-9 million.1.5 million French people regularly consume alcohol - an average of 20 grams of ethyl alcohol per day. A survey found that almost 72% of women and 88% of men are convinced that wine is good for health. Drinking wine, champagne and various cocktails was a habit for them. The created committee to combat alcoholism even developed recommendations for the daily norm of wine consumption: 0.25 liters for young men aged 14-20, 0.4 liters for women, 0.5 liters for men leading a sedentary lifestyle, and 1.1 liters for those engaged in physical labor.
Alcohol consumption per capita is also significant in Austria, where approximately 1 in 8 men and 1 in 12 women are hospitalized due to alcoholism. Alcoholism is most common among people aged 46-65, but it also occurs in other age groups. Recently, alcoholism has become a much more common phenomenon among teenage girls than 10 years ago.
There is a tendency for alcoholism to increase among young people. Thus, in 18 drug treatment centers in Germany, 10% of registered alcoholics were young men and women under 25 years of age, and all of them needed treatment. The literature data provided indicate that in recent years, many countries, especially economically developed ones, have seen a trend toward an increase in alcoholism among women, including women of childbearing age.
A feature of alcoholism in women is its more malignant course: the absence of a stage of long-term adaptation to alcohol, rapid formation of physical dependence on alcohol ( withdrawal syndrome ), frequent development of the disease in the form of binge drinking, rapid degradation of personality, and low effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. Thus, in 41 out of 84 cases, alcoholism developed within 3 years of the onset of alcohol abuse. In 62.7% of women who abuse alcohol, the period of formation of the clinical picture of chronic alcoholism lasts no more than 5 years.
It is characteristic that women do not show an active desire for treatment; after a course of treatment, 51.3% of women did not experience remission at all. The effectiveness of alcoholism treatment in women is significantly lower than in men, the duration of the therapeutic effect is shorter, and the frequency of relapses is significantly higher.
Many authors have studied the factors predisposing to the development of alcoholism in women, among themThe following factors were noted: the husband's illness as an alcoholic (in 67.3% of cases), psychotraumatic situations (in 60.6%), work related to the sale of alcoholic beverages (in 54.3%), the influence of "alcoholic" traditions at work (in 10.6%). The great importance in the development of alcoholism of so-called "stressful" professions, i.e. specialties related to irregular working hours, requiring great physical and emotional costs, women - bartenders, was established. Based on the analysis of the results of the study of 1,500 patients treated in a drug addiction clinic, in 60% of patients with chronic alcoholism, the onset of the disease is associated with the impact of the professional and domestic environment.
Among the reasons causing alcohol abuse, patients most often noted: acute psychological trauma (divorce, death of loved ones) and long-term mental trauma (29.5%), husband's drunkenness (23.5%). Chronic alcoholism in women, as well as in men, develops against the background of domestic drunkenness. People with certain character changes, characterized by rudeness, cynicism, dishonesty, immoral behavior, decreased criticism of their condition, loss of a sense of duty to family, work, society, are prone to alcoholism.
A follow-up examination of women suffering from chronic alcoholism revealed that they are characterized by social instability, a tendency to migrate, and an antisocial lifestyle.
A study of the development of alcoholism in 30 women revealed the following contributing factors: family alcoholism, unfavorable upbringing conditions, early contacts with people who drink alcohol, and a traumatic family environment. A certain connection was found between alcoholism among women and family, psychogenic factors and personality traits of patients (passive subordination, narrow range of interests, low level of general culture). In the presence of such personality changes, systematic use of alcoholic beverages was observed at a younger age (up to 25 years), rapid formation of dependence and rapid development of the disease, short periods of its remission after treatment were also revealed. In the occurrence of the disease in people over 25 years of age, mental trauma, unfavorable microsocial factors ("alcohol environment", "alcohol traditions") were of great importance. Signs of social degradation, moral and intellectual decline were noted in all those examined.
