Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990 TAG: 9004270401
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACY VAN MOORLEHEM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Even though she had a Ph.D. in sociology, she could not find a job. One night, as she lay in bed thinking about her future, she realized that what she was really an expert at was recovering from alcoholism.
Kirkpatrick had tried Alcoholics Anonymous several times but found it insufficient for her needs. She devised her own method of recovery based on the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and other metaphysical writers. She focused on believing that she was a capable woman and that all her problems were the creation of her own mind.
In 1973, Kirkpatrick established Women For Sobriety, the first self-help organization designed to meet the special needs of female alcoholics.
At a conference Thursday, sponsored by the Roanoke Valley Junior League, she discussed why she thinks men and women alcoholics should be treated separately.
The conference, "Helping Women Get Help," was held to train alcohol treatment facilitators and "gatekeepers" - people in helping professions who are in a position to refer suspected alcoholics to treatment - how to meet the special needs of women alcoholics.
"We're not treating alcoholism; we're treating women," Kirkpatrick said. "The physiological disorder is treated by cessation of drinking. But treating men and women physically is just the beginning."
On top of alcohol abuse, women suffer from gender-related problems, Kirkpatrick said. She said women are socialized to repress anger and feel guilt and shame for their behavior and for past actions, unlike anything a man experiences. Added to the humiliation and public stigma of being a woman alcoholic, these socialized behaviors make a woman's recovery much different from a man's, she said.
Kirkpatrick said she believes long-term dependency on the men in their lives make women more likely to be alcohol or drugs abusers.
"Support from others should lead to support of self," she said, instead of leading to lifelong dependency. For this reason, she said an alternative self-help group to Alcoholics Anonymous is necessary.
"Alcoholics Anonymous is a wonderful program, but it doesn't work for every woman," Kirkpatrick said.
Women For Sobriety follows a 13-step acceptance program that helps women recognize their ability to stand alone without dependencies, Kirkpatrick said.
The Junior League of Roanoke Valley has been studying women and alcoholism for five years. From national and local Junior League studies, they estimate that less than 3 percent of women alcoholics are getting alcohol-abuse treatment and another 20 percent may be attending Alcoholics Anonymous.
"The big problem is establishing a link between the problem and the solution," said Mary Dillon, chairman of the Roanoke Junior League's Woman to Woman program that planned the conference. Local gatekeepers have shown interest in filling the gap, she said, and the conference is designed to train them how to do that.
Dillon agreed that women face different obstacles than men in getting help.
"A drunk woman is viewed with much more disgust," she said. In society's view, "a drunk woman is a disgusting object, but a drunk man is just a drunk man," she said.
Since many women are the primary caregiver to their children, it is impossible for them to spend 28 days in a treatment center. A Junior League study showed that more than half of alcoholic women are between the ages of 18 and 34 and over 50 percent work. But nationwide only two out of 410 treatment centers offer on-site child care. One out of the 12 treatment centers in the Roanoke Valley offers some form of child care.
Divorce rates are very high for alcoholic women, Dillon said. Nine out of 10 husbands will leave an alcoholic wife, but nine out of 10 wives will stay with an alcoholic husband, according to the Junior League study.
by CNB