"All healing is release from the past. It is enough to heal the past and make the future free. It is enough to let the present be accepted as it is." Course of Miracles
Most addicts have survived some form of childhood trauma. In recovery, they must make an effort to heal the wounds of the past. They must also accept the fact that this is an inside job. Nothing outside of themselves is going to heal them. Therapy and support groups are supportive environments, but addicts have to do all the work to promote their own inner healing.
Healing the wounds of the past is a long and drawn out process. This process begins when recovering addicts accept the fact that they were traumatized. Many people are in denial about this. They don't remember what really happened. They have blocked out the truth because it is too painful, or they see what happened to them as normal because they have nothing to compare it with.
Trauma is any experience which interferes with the feeling of safety and security that children need as they are growing up─any disruption to the child's well-being that is not worked through within the family unit via honesty, love, and communication. The following experiences are considered traumatic: neglect and abandonment; abuse, toxic shame; emotional incest, family secrets; toxic controlling by parents; peer rejection, a death in the family—whatever severely disturbs your sense of security.)
[To read the rest of this article by Susan Peabody, click here.]
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