Lifelines Counseling

Trauma occurs when someone’s response to an external event overwhelms their coping skills. What does this mean? A child who is physically abused by a parent does not understand why the abuse is happening and does not know how to escape the situation, so their coping skills are overwhelmed. The child might act out in a variety of ways (poor attention at school, running away from home, etc.) because they don’t know what else to do.

The more times an individual is exposed to traumatic events, the greater the impact on their mental and physical health. The types of traumatic experiences that lead to long-term mental health issues are usually caused by prolonged and repeated experiences that occurred before adulthood. These experiences can include sexual abuse, physical abuse, severe neglect, repeated abandonment, and psychological abuse. People who repeatedly witnessed these experiences are also victims of trauma. The long-term effects of trauma are disempowerment and disconnection from others.

There is a clear and distinct correlation between child trauma and drug and alcohol addiction. The traumatic incidents that we experience in our childhood very easily can, and often do, wind up following us into maturity creating a variety of long-term mental health issues that may cause us to self-medicate through excessive drinking or drug abuse. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) report that more than a third of adolescents with a report of abuse or neglect will have a substance use disorder before they reach their 18th birthday.1

Data published in TIME Magazine indicates that 55 to 60 percent of all post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) victims end up developing some form of chemical dependency, an assertion backed up by the American Psychological Association (APA). 2,3 In addition, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports that 7 to 8 percent of the American population suffers from some level of PTSD. 4 Identifying trauma-related substance abuse triggers is a key element of treatment and fundamental to helping individuals in recovery live a rich and full life as they endeavor to stay clean.