Of course, we all know that men aren’t the only ones who grapple with drug addiction or alcohol abuse. We all probably know women who struggle or have struggled with such problems. There have been several famous women who have had such problems, including some famous writers, including Carson McCullers and Patricia Highsmith.

Just as famous alcoholic men with such problems, it appears that alcoholic female writers turned to alcohol for various reasons. It appears that a number of alcoholic female writers had other personal issues. These issues included poverty, unhappy and abusive childhoods, rough relationships and/or marriages, family responsibilities, or were lesbians in a time when society did not discuss homosexuality.

Professionally, many female writers, and many females in general, faced numerous problems in the past. Many couldn’t pursue the educational and professional opportunities that their male counterparts could access. Society often viewed female creative work as a cute hobby, not as a serious pursuit. Society often said that females’ serious pursuits should be to marry, have kids, and run households. To pursue goals outside those realms was considered unfeminine and even as taking opportunities away from men.

As a consequence, many female writers experienced severe resistance when they wanted to pursue their writing careers. Often told that they were doing the wrong thing, it seems that these writers may have felt that they were wrong themselves and that something was wrong with them.

It isn’t too surprising, then, that some female writers turned to alcohol as a way to cope. Alcohol is, and was, a common tool people use to self-medicate their feelings of inferiority. The trouble is, using alcohol as a medication usually does more harm than good. If people are using alcohol because they are depressed, alcohol will make them more depressed. That’s partly because alcohol is a substance that depresses the brain and other parts of the body.

While people still use alcohol as a coping mechanism, they don’t have to do so. There are other treatments for depression, and there are also treatments for alcohol abuse. These treatments can help improve a person’s sense of self-worth without the use of substances.