Treatment Needs for Women With Alcohol Problems

D women require alcoholism treatment that differs from that for men? And if they do, what components should be included in women­oriented treatment? Until now, these questions have generated much rheto­ ric but few empirical data. Researchers and service providers have designed treatment components for female patients, incorpo­ rating results from clinical and survey studies of women with alcohol problems.1 Yet the effects of these approaches on treatment outcome rarely are evaluated directly. For example, because investiga­ tors have found that alcoholic women tend to have lower self­esteem than do alcoholic men (Beckman 1994), some programs have developed treatment com­ ponents designed to bolster self­esteem. Yet the effects of these components, by themselves or in combination with other treatment services, on women’s treatment outcome or even on increasing self­esteem have not been studied adequately. This article reviews the characteristics of women­sensitive alcoholism treatment and discusses specific aspects and risk factors