Addiction disorders and a trauma programs go hand in hand.
A trauma program is crucial to the recovery of those addicts that have suffered traumatic events in their lives. Traumatic events can include anything that causes mental and physical injury to a person. People respond to trauma in different ways. One person could suffer severe effects from, say, a major earthquake, while another could continue to function within the range of normality. The crucial factor is not what happened, but how the person responded to it. A person’s ability to cope with stressful events depends on three factors: the person’s history, the coping skills learned as a child and his or her emotion stability at the time of the event. Some people respond to traumatic events by turning to drugs and or alcohol.
How can a trauma program help addicts?
Traumas can cause extreme anxieties in people and cause them to find ways to cope. People who’ve suffered traumatic events will either seek revenge, become controlling or self medicate. Trauma programs are a necessary part to those addicts who’ve been through a traumatic event.
Self-medication is any activity or behavior the trauma survivor may use in an attempt to alleviate pain. A trauma survivor relives the trauma over and over again. Trauma survivors feel that the trauma is going to happen again and they have to find a way to control or prevent it from happening. Relief may come from a drug, from alcohol, or from “comforting” behaviors such as excessive eating, shopping, gambling or sex. Self-medication leads far too often to addiction. Self medication tactics are addressed in the trauma program at most addiction rehabs.
“Curing” the addictions of a trauma survivor, therefore, is not just a matter of refraining from using the addictive substance or suppressing addictive behaviors. Efforts at recovery are doomed to failure unless and until the underlying cause is addressed. A trauma program focuses on these coping mechanisms to bring about real recovery. The triggering event must be consciously revisited and dealt with. The addict must be given appropriate tools to deal with the extreme emotions which that event unleashed and continues to unleash. The only lasting way to heal the pain is to regain a sense of personal power. Without a trauma program to support an addiction treatment program, these persons will not heal properly.
If you or someone you know is need of a trauma program, please give us a call at 1-833-596-3502.