Addiction Group Therapy Exclusively For Women

At the Castelao centres, we develop different therapeutic approaches, including group addiction therapy for women only. This is because it is extremely important to take into account the gender approach when treating the disease of addiction since women have another way of processing the emotions linked to their dependency.

The Importance Of A Group Therapy With A Gender Approach

Group therapies play a key role in addiction treatment. They favour interaction, emotional support and motivation among people who have experienced similar situations. However, it is advisable to apply a gender approach to group therapy in addictions. Given that drug-dependent women have psychological and emotional characteristics different from those of men, it is necessary to provide them with a containment space and exclusive therapeutic support.

In this sense, like all group psychotherapy, this type of female psychological intervention pursues the same objectives as the rest of the therapeutic approach. Namely: achieve the total recovery of patients. Working, for this, to share her experience as a consumer of psychoactive substances; accept her condition as a sick person; find emotional balance, strengthen or recover their social skills; and achieve a better quality of life thanks to their personal growth and emotional regulation, among others.

However, not all recovery treatments contemplate the gender perspective in their therapeutic approaches. Just as the scientific literature dedicated to exploring this type of differentiation between both genders regarding their rehabilitation process is very recent.

On the other hand, in the centres of the Castelao Institute, we always consider the particular therapeutic needs of our patients, while their relationship with drug addiction entails specific dynamics.

Thus, there is no doubt that gender factors and how they manage their emotional world, which is much more complex than the masculine one, have a specific influence. After all, addiction is a fundamental disease of an emotional nature.

Why Women-Specific Addiction Group Therapy Is Necessary

The feminization of drug addiction is a recent social phenomenon, although it is constantly growing. Currently, one-third of people with addiction problems are women. Even so, the female presence continues to be much lower in the treatments, which prevents them from overcoming their illness.

This is because they do not always feel comfortable or sufficiently cared for in the daily dynamics in the centres. Since these have been designed based on men’s characteristics, this lack of specific care leads to the early abandonment of treatment, preventing full recovery.