A 'special population' with 'unique treatment needs': Dominant representations of 'women's substance abuse' and their effects

摘要

A number of studies suggest that the lack of "gender sensitive" drug treatment services for women represents a pressing social problem, second only to the problem of "women's substance abuse " itself. This article interrogates these "problem representations" by asking on what basis they are considered uniquely problematic. Through a critical analysis of research on women published between 1990-2012 in relevant high impact journals, the article identifies a dominant view of women in the drug field as a "special population" with "unique treatment needs." The article suggests that this view not only reinforces a limited understanding of the harms associated with women's substance abuse, but might also paradoxically enable programs and services for women to remain as "add-ons " and/or narrow the range of "gender sensitive " approaches adopted.