Despite growing awareness of women\u2019s rights and health issues such as honour killings, mental health, and family planning, one rising crisis remains largely hidden, female drug addiction.Shrouded in stigma and shame, many women suffer in silence, while families avoid seeking help for fear of judgment.
\nAs secrecy replaces support and phone consultations take the place of real care, this worsening issue is quietly costing lives.
\nMany women fear seeking help due to the potential backlash from their families and communities. The possibility of being judged, isolated, or losing the support of a spouse, children, or parents keeps them locked in silence. Unlike male addicts, who may find more open pathways to treatment, addicted women are often met with secrecy and shame. This results in an alarming lack of support systems tailored to their specific needs.
\nDr. Shamsher Hayat, a PhD, clinical psychologist and CEO of Hayat Rehab Clinic, told media that, \u201caddiction among women is rising, yet most cases are reported anonymously.
\nFamilies avoid bringing daughters or wives for treatment out of fear of judgment,\u201d he said, noting a growing number of school and university girls falling into addiction due to peer pressure, neglect, or academic stress.
\nHe described that addiction is often linked to deeper mental health issues like depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder, and requires holistic care, detox, therapy, and emotional healing.
\nAt Hayat Rehab, treatment includes medical detox and regular counseling, typically lasting four months. Many patients come from other cities to seek help discreetly, underlining the stigma that still surrounds this crisis.
\nDr. Shamsher Hayat explained that whether women are using cannabis, heroin, methamphetamine, amphetamines, prescription painkillers, or alcohol, substance abuse takes a serious toll, not just physically, but also on their emotional stability, mental health, behavior, and personal relationships.
\nThe ripple effects of female addiction extend far beyond the individual, impacting children who may suffer emotional neglect, mental health struggles, and an increased risk of substance abuse, while families face emotional, social, and financial strain, and society bears the burden through overwhelmed healthcare systems and lost potential, all rooted in deep-seated issues like social stigma equating addiction with moral failure and the lack of gender-sensitive healthcare policies.
\nThis is further compounded by the overprescription of medications and media portrayals that either glamorize substance use or ignore the issue in women altogether. To understand this issue more deeply, Zunaira Hamid, a psychologist based in Bahria Town, talking to media said that women are more vulnerable to addiction due to underlying psychological conditions, including emotional distress, hormonal imbalances, and trauma, which often lead them to use substances as a coping mechanism.
\nShe explained that women experience addiction differently than men, with hormonal changes linked to their menstrual cycles making relapse more likely and treatment more complex. Yet, most rehabilitation centers remain ill-equipped to handle these gender-specific needs, lacking tailored programs that address women\u2019s emotional and psychological challenges, often leading to ineffective or incomplete recovery.
\nStudents are increasingly aware of the growing issue of female drug addiction. Ainabia Faisal, an A-Level student at Cedar College, Karachi, noted that while she hasn\u2019t seen it directly at school, it\u2019s clearly a rising problem in society, especially for girls who face harsher judgment. She cited peer pressure and trauma as major triggers.
\nUmaima Gull, a Computer Science student at Asia Pacific University, Malaysia, echoed this, saying she\u2019s heard of many girls turning to marijuana and pills due to stress, personal struggles, or toxic friendships, yet stigma keeps them silent. In truth, female addiction is not a moral failure but a public health crisis.
\nThese women are not weak, they are often survivors of trauma, neglect, or untreated mental illness, and their silence is a response to a society that chooses judgment over empathy. It\u2019s time we stop whispering about women\u2019s addiction and start speaking up.
\nWe need better rehab facilities, supportive families, public awareness campaigns, and healthcare policies that treat addicted women with the empathy, respect, and specialized care they deserve.
\nBecause behind every addicion is a story, and behind every story is a woman who needs to be heard, not hidden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite growing awareness of women\u2019s rights and health issues such as honour killings, mental health, and family planning, one rising crisis remains largely hidden, female drug addiction.Shrouded in stigma and shame, many women suffer in silence, while families avoid seeking help for fear of judgment. As secrecy replaces support and phone consultations take the place …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":84470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84469"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84472,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84469\/revisions\/84472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}