Adult Men in North Dakota

Drugs and alcohol are perhaps even more devastating for men in North Dakota compared to their female counterparts. In biological psychiatry, researchers discovered that consuming alcoholic beverages triggered a greater release of dopamine in male brains than it did in female brains. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that the brain produces when a person does something they find pleasurable and rewarding. The purpose of dopamine is to develop an anticipation of feelings of satisfaction and reward, with the idea of the person seeking such behaviors out in the future, in order to experience those sensations again.

Dopamine and Drug Addiction in Men

Dopamine is released by the brain whenever a person does something enjoyable, including moderate drinking or recreational drug abuse. Ideally, dopamine production tapers off after a point, and the behavior ceases. For some people, whether as a result of individual brain chemistry, a family history of substance abuse, mental health issues, stress, or gender, dopamine production continues, creating a dangerously strong connection between the consumption of alcohol or drugs and pleasure.

So, even though women require less alcohol to get intoxicated, alcohol tends to have a stronger effect on the brain in men than it does in women.

The Different Health Risks Associated with Addiction in Men

Statistically, men are at greater risk than women when it comes to medical problems associated with addiction. To start, men are more likely to experience organ failure, cirrhosis, pancreatitis, depression, and suicide. Specifically, excessive alcohol consumption decreases testosterone levels. With this decrease comes erectile dysfunction, infertility, and decreased libido, as well as decreased strength, bone density, and muscle mass. To top it off: men with low testosterone have a 33% greater risk of death over their next eighteen years of life.

According to SAMHSA, Men are 2.3 times more likely than women to enter treatment for their addiction. Unfortunately, they also more frequently enter treatment through the criminal justice system. When criminal justice admissions are excluded, the gap between relative numbers of admissions shrinks. The good news is that men are more likely to seek treatment, and the bad is that they are more frequently incarcerated than women.

Programs Available for Men and Women

Most facilities today are sensitive to the unique needs of women and men in treatment. While the core components of treatment will be essentially the same for everyone who comes into the programs-behavioral and alternative therapies, drug education, and support groups-facilities do take care to ensure that you feel comfortable in treatment. In some cases, this may look like women's- or men's-only therapy groups or separate quarters for men and women in our residential programs.

While many therapy types, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, have comparable success rates with men and women, there may be some therapeutic approaches that benefit specific populations.

For example, many women with substance use disorders are trauma survivors, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This makes trauma-based approaches particularly important for female patients. Seeking Safety, an approach used to address trauma, is often used for women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has been shown to have greater success in terms of improvement in substance use and PTSD symptoms than a standard model of community care.

Getting Help

If you or a man in your family has become dependent upon alcohol or drugs, there are facilities that can help. Many centers' drug and alcohol rehab programs accept a variety of insurance plans, and they will advocate on your behalf to obtain affordable treatment financing in North Dakota.