Nimhans has special ward for women addicts

BANGALORE: Women junkies are no longer a surprise that society throws up now and then: the number of women taking to substance abuse is showing a sharp rise in the country.
To cater to the growing numbers, Nimhans, the country's premier neurosciences institute, is starting a 20-bed ward for women to provide an appropriate, gender-sensitive and evidence-based treatment model.
Nimhans once catered to a modest 5-10 cases a year, but in the past five years, has seen 75-100 cases annually. Earlier, women addicts came in at a very late stage after the effects had started showing. Now, the trend is to come in at an early stage of diagnosis when it's possible to help them overcome the addiction.
The role of the family has also undergone a heartening change: family members now accompany young addicts to seek medical intervention, while some years ago, the family would shun the addict for taking to drugs.
"In the present context, there's a growing need for confidential counselling to handle the sensitive issue of de-addiction among women. As it's largely seen as a problem affecting males, most intervention, preventive or therapeutic, is invariably male-centric," Dr Pratima Murty, chief, Centre for Addiction Medicine at Nimhans, told TOI.
Doctors put down the addiction trend to women's changing lifestyle, peer pressure, inability to handle stress and inter-personal relationships, maintaining work-life balance and higher disposable income. "Cultural taboo, stigma, childcare responsibilities, poor emotional or financial support make it difficult for them to enter and remain in treatment," notes Sonali Jhanjhi from the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, AIIMS, in her paper 'Substance Use Among Women: Indian Scenario'.
Jhanjhi notes how women's substance use problem is more stigmatized and less likely to be acknowledged. As a result, much less is known about its prevalence, patterns and treatment needs.
There's another dangerous trend emerging: the earlier cases were only of women addicted to smoking and drinking but now opiates, sleeping tablets and narcotic painkillers have become more rampant. "It's a pattern mimicking the trend in male drug users," said Murty. The age group is diverse too - from youngsters to the middle-aged and even older women.
To find out more about the substances being used, the same building in Nimhans will soon house a state-of-the-art toxicology laboratory too. It will help doctors identify the drug and offer suitable treatment.
PROFILE OF DRUG USERS
- Mostly in the productive age group
- More than 50% initiated drug use between 10-20 years of age
- 67% were using drugs regularly for more than 5 years
- 44% took financial support from family for their habit
- Drug used was primarily heroin
- Other common substances concomitantly used: alcohol and cannabis