Risk Factors for Men and Substance Abuse
Men have different risk factors from women that can lead to a substance abuse problem. Sometimes they feel they have more responsibility than women, they are caregivers for their families. It is no secret, as it shouldn’t be, that veterans of military service who have seen combat often fall victim to drug and alcohol abuse. Just as they did during WW1 and WW2, just as they did during the Vietnam and Korean wars, just as we are seeing our sons (and daughters this time) do during the war since 9-11, alcohol and drug abuse has increased among veterans once again.
Men who grew up with an alcoholic parent can often find themselves falling victim to alcoholism as well. Perhaps they simply drink a couple of beers but if they have genetically inherited alcoholism, it could lead to a problem. Maybe they did not inherit it genetically, but still become alcoholics because it is the only life they ever knew after growing up in a home filled with drinking and abuse.
While women are traumatized by things that have happened to them, sexual abuse, the loss of a child, something that has a physical connection, men can turn to drugs and alcohol because of a more surreal feeling that is just as real. Men can spiral into substance abuse because of the loss of a love, either through a breakup or death. They find it hard to share their feelings with other men, so they withdraw within themselves and grieve with a drink that soon turns into another and another until finally they are addicted and find they can not get through the day without sneaking a drink. Or they get on sedatives and worse, mix the two, hoping the alcohol lets them forget for a while while the sedatives get them to sleep in a hurry. This is often a lethal mistake.
Men can turn to substance abuse when they feel they are not measuring up. They are the man of the house, the one who is responsible (in their eyes) for the family having everything it needs. Yet oftentimes, such as in the economy the past decade, they can suddenly find themselves out of a job and the stress of worrying about how to care for the family barrels out of control. Then his cousin whispers to him that he can make a few bucks in a not so legal way and his ethical nature loses out to feeding his kids and he finds himself smoking a joint "just once" then again, then again, then cocaine till the enemy of drugs has taken over his life.
Seeking help is harder for men, too. It can be done, though. Men can learn to show their emotions and weakness in counseling and in their support groups. When they understand that it does not belittle them, that it only means they are human, then they can see that the successful road to recovery is theirs as well.