SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The correlation between Substance

Abuse and domestic violence

The correlation between Substance

Abuse and domestic violence

Both substance abuse and domestic violence are linked to each other, men abuse their partners due to psychological problems created by use of drugs and females use drugs to reduce the psychological impact after being the victim of domestic violence. Substance abuse is generally considered to be the use of psychoactive or performance-enhancing substances for nonmedical or therapeutic purposes. Substance abuse may occur with both legal (e.g., alcohol, cigarettes, prescription, and over-the-counter [OTC] medication) and illegal (e.g., cocaine, heroin, marijuana) substances. The abuse of substances can lead to both psychological and physical addiction, with the degree of physical addiction depending upon the properties of the substance. Due to metabolic differences between the sexes, women are more susceptible to the effects of substances, particularly alcohol, and are more likely to become addicted than men. A woman's entry into substance use may begin after experiencing a traumatic event, and women are more likely to use substances to ease emotional pain from abuse, grief, and/or guilt than men. Since women are more likely to be prescribed mood-altering substances for emotional and psychological symptoms, they are more susceptible to addiction to prescribed medications (Henning, 2005).

Although overall rates of substance use are still higher among men than women, the gender gap has been decreasing, especially among younger age groups and with regard to specific substances, such as tobacco and the nonmedical use of prescription substances. Research has also begun to highlight health disparities in the consequences of substance use for women, with women demonstrating greater health consequences at the same level of behavior as men. Female alcoholics have a greater number of drinking problems and higher death rates than male alcoholics, and women are more susceptible than men to brain damage, cardiac problems, and liver disease as a result of their drinking. Women are also significantly more likely to develop dependence on nonmedical uses of psychotropic substances, such as sedatives and tranquilizers, than men. Women may become addicted sooner than men but also seem to seek treatment sooner, causing women's substance use experiences to be more compressed than men's (Gover, 2007).

Abuse Experiences

Initial conceptions of patterns of abuse focused on abuse of women by men and were based on work by Lenore Walker in the late 1970s and the “power and control wheel” created by Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs. Walker outlined the concept of a “cycle of violence” with three stages. In the initial stage, abuse and tension build, leading to the second stage, which is the explosion of abuse. Following the explosion is stage three, the “honeymoon” period, in which perpetrators attempt to make up for their abuse and the relationship is often characterized positively by victims. Inevitably, the honeymoon fades and tension builds again, according to the theory, and the cycle repeats itself. Since psychological and related types of abuse typically onset in a relationship before physical abuse, the initial passes through the cycle may not even ...