Trauma and Addiction

www.canadadrugrehab.ca /blog/addiction-treatment-withdrawal/trauma-addiction/
Canada Drug Rehab Directory
Modern war and major disasters such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina highlight the horrendous effects of
psychological trauma. Many of these people have turned to alcohol and drugs to deal with the impact. New research
is helping us develop new ways to treat these clients with concurrent addiction and mental health issues.

Brain Trauma
Trauma imprints itself in the brains memory system. Stress hormones that come with the emotional intensity of
trauma activate the amygdala, which turns on other structures in the limbic system (the primitive non-thinking part
of the brain). In other words, emotion mediates how memories are integrated into our brains. How this precisely
happens in the brain is still debated, but neuroscientist James McGaugh says everyone agrees that stronger
emotional experiences make for stronger, more reliable memories. Memories of a wartime fire-fight or a collapsed
building may intrude repeatedly in a survivors daily life or lead to nightmares. Survivors appear to be so
sensitive that even a door slamming or an image on television can trigger the intense experience. As psychologist
David Myers says, It is as if they [the memories] were burned in . Months or years later, traumatic memories can
be so clear that victims recall the event with remarkable detail.

Trauma and Drug Use

There is an association between addiction and trauma, though much more work is needed to discover what the
precise link is. Some say that those suffering from trauma are more vulnerable to addiction; the earlier the trauma,
the stronger the association. This may be due to the impact of early trauma on the brains development. Others say
that the addicted brain makes people more vulnerable to PTSD. Some suggest that traumatized people are more
vulnerable to addiction because they want to medicate their condition. Still others say that those with trauma who
are addicted to substances are not medicating their pain, but using substances as any person with addiction does
to relieve boredom, despair, guilt, loneliness, and a lack of a sense of belonging.

Treatment
Scientific treatment for trauma and addiction traditionally relies on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). But many are
questioning whether CBT and traditional psychotherapy are enough. Some critics suggest that because trauma
affects the brains limbic system and inhibits key functioning in the thinking brain, body-oriented and self-regulation
therapies may be more effective than traditional talk therapies.
Based on brain-imaging techniques that show traumatic memories appear to be mediated or moderated by the
limbic system, some trauma experts are using techniques that integrate the mind and the body. James Gordon,
head of the college of mind-body medicine at Saybrook University, uses a mind-body approach that focuses on client
strengths, builds resiliency, and balances the sympathetic nervous systems fight or flight response with the
parasympathetic nervous systems relaxation response. He follows a three-step process: shake, breathe, and
move to music. Strange as the idea may first appear, this body-work frees participants sufficiently to deal with the
trauma. They often break down sobbing during this somatic process, able to talk about what happened to them.
Othre clinicians use EMDR and OEI, various types of body-work, forms of psychodrama, and other cutting-edge
techniques.
Today, few addiction treatment programs address mental health and trauma alongside addiction. This is changing

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steadily, though. There is great hope that clients with mental health issues, personal trauma, and/or occupational
stress injuries will have more successful, fulfilling recoveries as addictions clinicians become more familiar with
mental health and trauma.

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