How Trauma Leads to Addiction: Psychological & Brain-Level Explanation

Millions of people deal with addiction issues without being aware of its origins. The past usually holds the reason for such behaviors, which is something unpleasant that was never resolved. Researchers and clinicians now widely agree that how trauma leads to addiction is one of the most important questions in modern mental health care.

WisHope Recovery is here to help you understand how trauma affects addiction through scientific evidence. We offer customized addiction treatment options aimed at dealing with both trauma and addiction connections. Learn more about our program and choose a suitable one by visiting wishoperecovery.com.

Key Takeaways

• Addiction is caused by changes to the brain’s stress and reward centers that come from trauma experiences.
  
• People who experience trauma as children have an increased chance of developing substance abuse problems.
  
• PTSD often coexists with substance abuse, and both require treatment as part of dual diagnosis treatment.
  
• Treatments such as EMDR therapy and brainspotting therapy can help treat the trauma held within the brain and body.
  
• People can achieve recovery with the proper addiction treatment programs and psychological well-being.
  

How Does Trauma Affect The Brain?

While trauma affects the emotional state, it can also change brain chemistry. The brain will release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline when one experiences overwhelming feelings like fear or loss of something precious. This occurs when the brain activates to a brain trauma response.

Among other parts, the process affects the following:

• The amygdala: Becomes hyperactive and keeps the individual in a constant state of fear or alertness.
  
• The prefrontal cortex: Becomes hypoactive and negatively impacts the ability to make decisions and control impulses.
  
• The hippocampus: Shrinks over time and hampers memory function, along with the ability to perceive the difference between past dangers and current safety.
  
• Dopamine regulation: It makes an individual prone to developing an addiction.
  

This biological explanation demonstrates how trauma leads to addiction. 

Why Do People Who Have Experienced Trauma Resort to Drug Abuse?

Drugs help satisfy one thing everyone who has been traumatized craves: relief. The effect of alcohol on the user is an elimination of emotional pain; the nervous system can be tranquilized by opiates, while stimulants help people feel empowered. To someone struggling with emotional trauma, addiction, or disorders, all these things are necessary medicine, which, in essence, they are.

Unfortunately, the brain quickly becomes accustomed to the effects mentioned above and requires a higher dose to achieve the same effect. The individual does not do that out of irresponsibility or weakness but tries to self-medicate through drug abuse. That is precisely why it is essential to seek mental health treatment.

How Does Early Childhood Trauma Increase the Possibility of Addiction?

Traumas suffered early in childhood affect a person even more deeply. All studies on childhood trauma and addiction have found that childhood adverse events, such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, and even exposure to violence at home, can increase a person’s vulnerability to substance abuse disorders in the future.

The brain continues developing during childhood.

People who suffer from four or more adversities in their childhood are much more likely than others to:

• Have alcohol dependency seven times higher
  
• Use recreational drugs ten times more frequently
  
• Experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts
  

That is why ignoring childhood traumas during addiction treatment programs leads to failure.

What Is the Role of PTSD in Substance Abuse?

PTSD substance abuse is one of the most researched comorbidities in psychological studies. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs due to the inability of the brain to process a traumatic incident. 

Many individuals suffering from PTSD abuse substances to overcome the symptoms. Statistics indicate that around 50% of individuals enrolled in addiction recovery programs are also diagnosed with PTSD. This explains why dual diagnosis treatment, which treats PTSD and substance abuse at once, is the ideal treatment approach.

What Are Some Common Triggers of Trauma that Cause a Relapse?

Trauma triggers addiction relapses more frequently than many would think. A trigger is a sensory stimulus, such as a smell, sound, location, or person, that sends the individual’s mind back to the exact moment of their initial trauma. Being triggered causes the mind not only to recall the incident but also to experience it again.

Some common trauma triggers include:

• An anniversary of the trauma itself
  
• Verbal arguments that mimic prior abuse
  
• Any sounds, smells, or locations associated with the trauma
  
• Disturbing information or media
  
• Unspeakable sadness due to loss
  

Without proper trauma therapy, these triggers can silently drive someone back to substance use, even after years of sobriety.

What Therapies Can Help Treat Trauma at a Brain Level?

Innovations in modern mental health treatment have created some great treatments that can help treat trauma, even when talking alone fails to produce results. Two of these include:

• EMDR Therapy: EMDR is a type of therapy that helps the brain reprocess trauma through bilateral stimulation, such as eye movement, tapping, and auditory tones. In doing this, the brain is able to process the memories and put them in place as memories of the past rather than a constant source of threat.
  
• Brainspotting Therapy: This therapy focuses on creating eyespots that help bring up memories that are locked deep in the brain. By focusing on certain eye spots, trauma therapy will be conducted on a person without the need to share their experiences in words.
  

These types of therapies play an important role in helping develop good addiction recovery programs due to the mental health addiction link.

Your Journey to Recovery 

Understanding the relationship between trauma and addiction will not cause you shame; rather, it will help you understand your condition and get the right help. 

The professionals at WisHope Recovery have everything you need to heal from your pain in the best way possible by providing the right treatment for dual diagnosis, trauma, and addiction. This will include EMDR and brainspotting therapies, among others. Do not continue surviving; start healing now.

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