What Most People Don't Know About Trauma and Addiction [psychologytoday.com]

By Jason N. Linder, Psychology Today, July 6, 2020

If you are like most people, you may think addiction is a rampant problem in our society. And you're partially right. It is. But that misses the forest for the trees. It's not the root problem itself. It's actually a failed solution to the underlying problem: the pandemic of unhealed, psychological trauma. It’s essential to realize that addiction is often the symptom of the problem in reality. It's no coincidence that about 28 percent of those with diagnosable PTSD have an addiction issue and another 35 percent have a full-blown, serious, physiologically-dependent addiction. The good news is it's very treatable, but it takes effort.  So, a more relevant question when thinking of addiction, is not why the addiction, but first, what's the pain and past traumatic event(s) driving it?

The sooner we understand this, the better. If you're reading this, the odds are that you know someone struggling in the throes of addiction. Approximately 50 percent of clients in the U.S. pursuing mental health services are directly or indirectly affected by addiction (and therefore psychological trauma too, by default). If you or health professionals focus only on their addiction, again they'd be missing the bigger picture. The real problem is the pain and trauma (often rooted in deep relational ruptures) driving the addiction.