Women are more likely to develop an addiction to drugs and alcohol than are men when they begin to experiment or abuse drugs casually, and they tend to develop that addiction more quickly and on lesser amount of their drug of choice. That’s the bad news. The worse news is that women are less likely to seek treatment than are men who are living with similar drug and alcohol addictions. Why? Perhaps it’s the stigma of drug addiction that they wish to avoid. Maybe it’s because they feel that they can’t leave children who are dependent upon them. No matter what the reason, the hardest part for women is recognizing that they have an addiction issue that is significant and requires drug rehab and then getting them the drug addiction treatment they need to heal.

But what about after drug rehab? What chances does a woman have at full recovery after addiction? What kind of life can she create for herself after addiction?

Statistics Show that Women Succeed in Drug Addiction Recovery

The good news for women battling a drug or alcohol addiction is they are more likely to recover if they seriously seek treatment. Research has proven that the relapse rates for women are less than for the male population. Experts speculate this is due to the fact that women are more likely to use the group therapy offered in rehab to their advantage. Women are better able to form bonds and create a support network with their peers in counseling than men. These statistics demonstrate that relapse prevention needs to be approached differently between the genders in rehab.

The Benefits of a Network of Support in Drug Addiction Recovery

It’s true that women fare better after drug rehab when they have a group of gals to lean on. In general, women are social creatures by nature and get more from the benefits of sharing their feelings or venting and thus avoiding a relapse and/ or being there for others in a supportive capacity. Creating a community in recovery can help patients to remain accountable for their actions and their commitment to staying clean and sober. It can be extremely positive, and though the mechanism of group therapy and support groups are helpful for men as well, they are an especially positive choice for women in recovery.

Drug Rehab for Women

Many drug rehabs offer extended care for female graduates, woman-centered therapies, and women-only treatment. Orchid offers drug addiction treatment solely for women. Contact us today to find out more about our program.

One of the most important factors in anyone’s successful cocaine addiction recovery is the support system that patients create to help them through the tough times. Women, especially, need a strong emotional support system in order to be successful without drugs and alcohol in recovery –and many have found benefits to creating woman-centered system of support that is mutually beneficial to all.

Through woman-centered 12-step meetings, therapy sessions, and drug rehab programs, women are finding in larger and larger numbers that banding together can be most effective in helping them to stay clean and sober for the long term.

Woman-Centered Cocaine Addiction Recovery Meetings

There are a number of 12-step meetings and other support groups for those breaking free from cocaine addiction that are for women only. Here, participants can feel safe to share the stressors of the day, issues with significant others, and other issues that they may not feel comfortable sharing when men are in the room. Participants exchange phone numbers and often make themselves available for coffee or support when cravings strike. Often, women form lifelong friendships based on the experiences they have in 12-step cocaine addiction recovery.

Woman-Centered Cocaine Addiction Therapy

Group therapy sessions or private therapy sessions with a female therapist and/ or female participants can provide similar mechanisms of support found at woman-centered 12-step meetings but with a more psychologically therapeutic bent. Working with a medical professional means that you will receive medical guidance in addition to the support of other women in the group. A therapist who can help you navigate the emotional issues and issues of sexual trauma can be of great assistance in an ongoing recovery and is one of the best choices to make after completing a cocaine rehab program.

Woman-Centered Cocaine Rehab

If you are seeking woman-centered cocaine detox and addiction treatment, there are drug rehabs for women that provide just that. Here you will find an all-female staff and female peers who will help you through the process of leaving cocaine addiction behind. Starting with a cocaine detox to handle the physical effects of cocaine addiction and continuing with comprehensive cocaine addiction treatment, a woman-centered cocaine rehab can help you build a strong foundation in recovery and help you begin the process of working through trauma that occurred before or during your cocaine addiction and help you learn how to better handle the stressors that come your way without relapse. Contact us at Orchid Recovery Center to find out how we can help.

Heroin addiction is a problem across the United States but for years, Baltimore City has been called the Heroin Capital of the US. The latest research says that a great deal of progress has been made in the last few years in terms of lowering the number of those living with active heroin addictions, those admitted to the hospitals for heroin overdoses or heroin-related accidents, and those admitted to heroin rehabs in search of treatment.

Unfortunately, the number of Baltimore City residents needing help for heroin addiction is still higher than almost any other city in the country – but a number of help measures have decreased the number in need dramatically.

Some of the Heroin Addiction Help Measures Baltimore Implemented

Baltimore may not have wiped out the problem of heroin addiction in Baltimore City, but they’ve gone from having a heroin overdose death rate that exceeded their extremely high homicide rate to investing heavily in heroin addiction treatment. Their work shows:  increased funding meant increased care and more 18,000 admissions into heroin rehab increased to 30,000 over five years. A heroin overdose prevention and care system was implemented, which also helped to decrease the number of Baltimore City resident deaths due to heroin addiction. Drug courts were increased and expanded to include more addicts in treatment. Suboxone treatment for heroin addiction was offered on a wider basis, providing more active addicts with an outpatient means of treatment. The end result has been a strong heroin addiction recovery community in Baltimore City and hundreds of saved lives.

Why Heroin Addiction Wasn’t Wiped Out

With all the increased funding and availability of treatment, why isn’t heroin addiction a thing of the past in Baltimore City? Unfortunately, despite the increase in services, it still is outmatched by demand. Waiting lists are months long in some cases and there was limited funding for the area of highest need: uninsured heroin addicts in need of treatment.

Finding Help for Heroin Addiction

If you need help for heroin addiction and the services are lacking in your town, opt for a private heroin rehab that can give you what you need without the long wait list. At Orchid Recovery Center, we offer women a comprehensive heroin detox and addiction treatment program. Call now to find out more about how we can help you fight heroin addiction and learn how to live without drugs of addiction.

In 1992, Cornelia Whitner was sentenced to eight years in jail because her baby tested positive for cocaine at birth. Since then, a nationwide debate has raged about the legality of the South Carolina court’s actions that sentenced her. Should Whitner have received a criminal punishment for her drug addiction, a medical disease and not technically a crime? Or are her actions criminal because they amount to child endangerment, just as if she had given a child outside of her womb a drug of addiction like cocaine?

Very few people seem to agree on this issue. There are so many points to discuss that it’s almost difficult to know which one comes first. Here are just a few:

1. Drug addiction is a medical disease and not a moral failing. It’s also not a “crime” that anyone has ever stood trial for. While patients with an active drug addiction may have stood before a judge on counts of drug possession or for the behavior they chose while under the influence, the act of putting a drug into their body was never among the charges. That changed in this case – and only in potential other cases like this.
2. When a fetus becomes a child and therefore a person with rights. This is disputed in every state across the country, and it has a significant impact on this debate. If a child is not a child until after birth then there is no endangerment that the mother can inflict during pregnancy that is actionable. If a child becomes a child in the womb, at what point exactly and when does the mother become responsible for protecting that child above the dictates of her disease?
3. If a baby testing positive for a drug – and not necessarily being addicted to any substance – is a punishable offense, what else deserves prosecution? Should mothers who smoke cigarettes while they are pregnant receive judicial punishment? What about those who drink alcohol? At what point should they be prosecuted? After one cigarette or upon discovery of regular smoking? After just one drink or regular, daily drinking?
4. With the risk of prosecution comes the increased risk that mothers who know they are living with an addiction will not seek the help and care that they and their growing child needs. If living with an active addiction is a crime, and continuing to feed that addiction during pregnancy is a crime, then is it also a crime to risk pregnancy with unprotected sex during addiction? Will mothers even seek out the prenatal care that they and their child needs?
5. One statistic states that black women are 10 times as likely to be prosecuted for abusing drugs during pregnancy than are white women. Is this a racist issue or is it a true concern for all babies?

Though few would say that it’s okay to take any kind of drug or alcohol during pregnancy and continue to live with an active drug addiction without seeking treatment both before and after the baby is born, incarceration that takes that mother away from the child and limits access to drug treatment is good for no one.

What do you think?

It’s not just Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, who is making headlines due to alleged drug abuse
and potential addiction behavior. Now it’s Whitney herself who is reportedly beginning a drug rehab program. Like many celebrities, there is no admission from her camp that she is actually living with an active drug addiction that requires treatment, but that she is simply checking in so that she can maintain her long-term recovery and be proactive against relapse.

Whitney Houston’s rep says: “Whitney Houston is currently in an outpatient rehab program for drug and alcohol treatment. Whitney voluntarily entered the program to support her long-standing recovery process.”

When Outpatient Drug Addiction Treatment is a Good Idea

Whether or not Whitney has relapsed or if she is genuinely attempting to fight for a continued sobriety, an outpatient addiction treatment program is the perfect choice for her. Because she has already attended multiple inpatient treatment programs and learned how to remain clean and sober for the most part, an outpatient rehab can give her the refresher course she needs to stay in touch with the principles of sobriety, get a little guidance on specific issues that are causing her trouble, and have a supportive group of people who will hold her accountable for her actions for the duration of the program. For some patients, the constant possibility of a drug test is enough to help them avoid relapse and filling that sober time with personal therapy, group therapy, volunteer work, experiential therapy, alternative treatments and more can do nothing but bolster sobriety.

When Outpatient Drug Addiction Treatment is not a Good Idea

In general, it is not recommended that you attend outpatient drug addiction treatment if:

• It’s your first time in treatment after a long-term addiction.
• If you experience withdrawal symptoms when attempting to stop taking your drug of choice in addition to cravings and will require inpatient drug detox.
• If you have been living with an addiction without treatment for a long period of time, whether or not you have attended drug rehab in the past.
• If you are diagnosed with a co-occurring psychological, social, or behavioral disorder that makes the drug addiction more difficult to handle.
• If you have concerns that you will be unable to avoid relapse when you leave the program each day.

Though there are a number of situations in which outpatient addiction treatment is the only option – and it can be very effective – in most cases, a more intensive inpatient drug rehab program is recommended.

Contact us today to learn more about the addiction treatment programs available here at The Orchid.