When children experience trauma, the lasting effects can be more severe since their brains are in the initial stages of development. Trauma is characterized by a person's inability to process and move past an experience without recalling it repeatedly. Traumatic events in childhood can easily follow a person into maturity, leading to long-term mental health issues that may result in alcohol addiction or drug abuse. Here is how addiction is connected to trauma and childhood experiences:
Connecting Addiction and Trauma
Individuals who have experienced at least four traumatic events are more likely to develop alcohol addiction and substance abuse disorder. Childhood trauma is any distressful or emotionally painful event that usually causes lasting physical and mental effects. The trauma can be environmental or personal.
Traumatic events include physical assault, sexual assault, domestic violence, emotional abuse, parental neglect, bullying, natural disasters, accidents, and illnesses. These events affect each individual differently.
Mental health conditions from trauma can be amplified if the person was a child when they experienced the trauma. New experiences that individuals go through as children have a huge impact on who they become as adults. Infants and toddlers observe and experience life around them. Childhood experiences can affect how their brain grows and changes. Traumatic events can cause their brain to grow and adapt poorly to certain situations. Children are less capable of working through or understanding traumatic experiences. Many also cannot leave a traumatic situation like an abusive household. Such issues can become debilitating, causing lifelong problems such as alcohol addiction, depression, PTSD, and suicide.
Treating Childhood Trauma and Addiction
Individuals working through childhood trauma often start using alcohol or drugs to self-medicate. Such individuals lack access to mental health treatment like medications and therapy. Lack of treatment causes issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder to get worse, causing the individual to look for alternative forms of relief. Childhood trauma survivors usually have low self-worth, making them feel they don't deserve help. Trauma-informed care is ideal for individuals struggling with trauma from childhood experiences and addiction.
Both substance abuse and trauma should be addressed simultaneously to avoid a relapse in the symptoms. Rehab is a safe treatment facility where there is no judgment from the staff. Professionals use evidence-based methods to treat patients and help them overcome shame, fear, or guilt. Treatment helps to reduce the damage caused by childhood trauma and helps a person to live a life free of substance dependency and pain with the assistance of experienced professionals.
Seeking Professional Help
Seek help from a professional to identify the main cause of trauma. A professional can help you acknowledge events, addiction, and problem behaviors that have resulted from trauma and childhood experiences. The impact of childhood trauma can be deep-rooted. Traumatic events change how individuals experience and see things. To understand how childhood experiences have affected you, a professional will use your past to provide guidance and treatment.
Therapy is an effective way of treating childhood trauma and addiction. With the help of a therapist, you can link your current feelings with the situations and behaviors that happened to you in the past.
Choose a Rehab Center for Alcohol Addiction
Find an alcohol addiction treatment facility that provides resources to help individuals overcome addiction from trauma and childhood experiences. The treatment should combine self-help programs, therapy, medications, and social support. Choose a facility that targets the main cause of addiction and uses evidence-based solutions to prevent relapse.
