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Women become addicted to drugs and alcohol for reasons that are different from men. According to research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, women are also more susceptible to becoming addicted because they encounter more situations in their lives that are likely to trigger off substance abuse.

Exhaustive studies show that young women and girls are more likely to begin substance abuse in an attempt to lose weight, reduce sexual inhibitions, relieve stress, increase confidence, improve mood and self-medicate depression.

Substance abuse in women is almost always caused by abuse-related trauma. Most women in substance abuse treatment programs are, or have at one time been, victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse or domestic violence or they could have been witness to the abuse or violence. Women in treatment recovery programs are over five times more likely than men to be been sexually abused as children.

Women very rarely take to substance abuse as a form of recreation, and when they do, it is often their partners who play a major influencing factor. Most women who are addicted to alcohol or drugs are more likely to have a partner who is also addicted. Women are more likely to resort to drugs or alcohol as a form of comfort after a crisis, which could be a divorce, miscarriage, unemployment. A child recently leaving home could also trigger off substance abuse in women.

Women are regarded in society as the primary caregivers. The social stigma attached to women who are addicted as well as the fear of losing their children cause women to minimize or deny their substance abuse. Thus they are denied the early treatment that is crucial to a long-lasting and complete recovery.

In older women addiction is often caused due to their tendency to self-medicate with prescription drugs or alcohol in an attempt to deal with loneliness, loss of a spouse or financial insecurity.