Menopause-age women are dying from alcohol-related causes in unprecedented numbers.
Here’s what’s behind the alcohol use disorder crisis.
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My bodily reaction is abnormal when I put alcohol in my system, she says.
I dont have an off switch.
All I have is a more switch.
…
Im sure I would be dead by now.
This isnt an overstatement.
This isnt the first time that studies have connected older women with alcohol.
From 2006 to 2014, women 45 to 54 also accounted for thehighest rate of alcohol-related emergency room visits.
Its so ingrained in our culture that because alcohol is legal, its not as big of a problem.
But anything in excess becomes a problemlegal doesnt equal healthy.
Why are menopause-age women particularly vulnerable to alcohol abuse?
Now, however, that number has dropped to 12 percent.
The same sort of thinking could apply to the 45 to 54 age group.
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Thats when drinking escalates for a lot of women.
A lot of addiction disorders co-occur with mental illness, says Dr. Cohen.
Women aretwice as likely to experience depression as men, and that numbers growing.
Big Alcohol is capitalizing off the wellness boom, with a specific and targeted hit towards women.
Perhaps they grew up in environments where [alcoholism] wasnt talked about as much as it is now.
There are also many misconceptions around recovery that still linger from decades past, adds Whitaker.
I dont really know if Im an alcoholic.'
Unfortunately, she says, there are still very few women-only treatment facilities.
Mid-life women who opt to attend a 12-step program may also find that the process doesnt resonate with them.
Take AA, for example, which wasfounded by two men in the 1930sand hasnt been updated much since.
So I amended that into What did I do well today?
Where was I kind?
Where was I patient?
How do we reverse the trend of alcohol-related deaths for women over 45?
[Alcohol use disorder] has been swept under the rug for such a long time.
Studies are jarring, but normalizing resistance to alcohol-centric culture through social proof is far more effective.
For her part, Kay learned that life is indeed much richer without alcohol at the center of it.
Is that a function of aging or sobriety?
I dont know, but it feels a lot better.
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