Trauma and Addiction: Ending the Cycle of Pain

Trauma, by its very nature, renders a person emotionally illiterate. What happens feels out of the norm, hard to pin down, elusive and strange, so we don't integrate it into our context of normal living. The brain, like any good computer, categorizes information by type. For example, traumas such as the school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, or a devastating hurricane or being raped are not part of our daily routines, so we don't have well-developed mental categories for organizing our impressions of them. They seem unreal, out of the ordinary, and they need to be talked through to make them feel real.

Talking about trauma, going over what happened, contextualizes it so we can integrate it. Also, if we do not process trauma, the result can be serious and ongoing life complications such as depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, anger, feelings of betrayal, and trouble trusting and cornecting in relationships. Such are the symptoms that, when unresolved, lead people to seek pleasure or self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, food, sex, spending and other addictions. Continue reading; www.enotalone.com