Self in Relation and addiction
... in order to make or keep connections to other persons in their lives. Addicted women also describe their addictions as relationships, e.g. “Alcohol was my true love” or “Food was my source of comfort.” The task in helping a woman to recover is to help her transfer her attachments to addictive “relationships” (with substances, people, or both) to sources of growth-fostering connections, such as her therapist, her mutual-help group, or members of her recovery group. 1. Addiction and trauma. Another source of relational disconnection contributing to the development of addiction and relapse in women is interpersonal violence, which drastically increases the likelihood that a woman will abuse alcohol and other drugs. In a 1982 landmark study of 34 addicted women and a matched sample of 34 non-addicted women, 74 percent of the addicted women reported sexual abuse, 52 percent reported physical abuse, and 72 percent reported emotional abuse. The addicted women had been sexually, physically, and emotionally abused by more perpetrators more frequently and for longer periods of time than their non-addicted counterparts (Covington & Kohen, 1984). The connection between addiction and interpersonal violence is complex and multifaceted. There are also gender differences in terms of abuse. “While both male and female children are at risk for abuse, females continue to be at risk for interpersonal violence in their adolescence and adult li...