Mental health of women who use alcohol

an integrative review

Abstract

The use of alcohol in the history of mankind has received several meanings over the years, such as a symbol of celebration, sharing and even marriage. Women tend to develop alcohol abuse and dependency faster than men, given their own organic and social constitution. The existence of barriers in seeking and maintaining treatment is the biggest obstacle faced by teams specialized in this area. Thus, the objective of this study is to carry out an integrative review research of academic productions on the mental health of women who use alcohol. The gender focus in this study should be necessary to deepen the discussions on this topic due to correlation studies as variables. Through the qualitative approach, a survey of scientific articles was carried out in the online databases LILACS and SciELO. The results listed five themes to expose and discuss the findings: the impact of alcohol on women's lives; aggravating factors; subjective representations about alcohol; representations about the service; and realities in numbers. Talking about mental health, women and alcohol lists a complexity requiring the researcher the ability to explore and understand the phenomena that surround him.