[Differential features of female alcoholism]

Alcoholic men and women have differential characteristics. It has been discussed whether alcoholic women have specific and additional difficulties that require extra study. However, these differences may imply an advantage for some aspects of treatment.

data from eleven published studies of alcoholic patients are reanalyzed from a gender perspective.

to gain better knowledge of gender differences and their therapeutic implications.

women present more suicidal attempts than men, but these attempts are less lethal and have less intentionality. Personality structure is similar in the two sexes, but women have better prognosis, even if they present psychiatric disorders. A notable characteristic of women's prognosis is their better adherence to group therapies. Women diagnosed with severe alcohol dependence who need inpatient treatment for detoxification are usually younger and have higher rates of benzodiazepine abuse and personality disorders than men, but are also more collaborative, and benefit more from therapy. Female benzodiazepine abusers show lower rates of neurocognitive impairment than men. Alcoholic women with severe organic conditions that require inpatient treatment usually have a medical record with more unsuccessful treatment attempts for alcohol dependence than men, and their prognosis is equally unfavourable.

alcoholic women may have psychological mechanisms that facilitate higher abstinence rates and lower mortality rates than men. Future research for improving knowledge of such mechanisms, which are related to emotional factors such as guilt, depression and anxiety, and traditionally considered as problematic, may indicate that they actually increase motivation to change.