Delineation of the Lived Experiences of Drug Dependent Women

Drug dependence is a social problem that traditionally involved men. However، recent developments which have changed the social، economic، and cultural status of women has led to drug addiction of women. Research on women’s drug addiction has، thus far، looked typically into the issues quantitatively drawing on psychological and sociologicaltheories. This study، however، attempted to investigate the problem qualitatively. More specifically، this study explored addicted women's lived experiences through a phenomenological approach. Thirty women from Sari selected through purposive sampling participated in in-depth interviews. Interview transcriptions were analyzed drawing on Strabert’s method to extract significant themes. Theme analysis lead to conceptualcodes and classes، and five themes (triangle of individual، family، and society، spectrum of happiness-distress، broken social relationships، inability against community pressure، impotence in the face of circumstances) which، in turn، helped the researcher to develop a model to define the phenomenon of drug dependence from the women’s stance.