Alcohol dependence in women: Comorbidities can complicate treatment

Rebecca A. Payne, MD
Fourth-year resident, Department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Sudie E. Back, PhD
Associate professor, Department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Tara Wright, MD
Assistant professor, Department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Karen Hartwell, MD
Instructor, Department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Kathleen T. Brady, MD, PhD
Professor of psychiatry, Director, clinical neuroscience division, Department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

For years, little was known about alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in women. Alcohol dependence studies rarely included women, so findings and treatment outcomes observed in men were assumed to apply to both genders.

Awareness of gender differences in addiction has grown. Biological and psychosocial differences between alcohol-dependent women and men now are understood to influence etiology, epidemiology, psychiatric and medical comorbidity, course of illness, and treatment outcomes. This article discusses recent insights into planning treatment to address specific needs of alcohol-dependent women.

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