What Is Trauma?
If you’re wondering, “what is trauma,” you’re not alone.
Today, trauma can often be a buzz word but not everyone may truly know what it means. This article is intended to break down a common understanding of the term and its connection to addiction. We’ll also include ways to best treat trauma for those who also experience addiction struggles.
Traumatic experiences are repeated or single exposures to an event that are life threatening or emotionally disturbing. Trauma almost always results in adverse effects on an individual’s psychological, social, emotional or physical well-being. To better understand the signs and symptoms associated with trauma, we’ve included a list below.
- Flashbacks
- Nightmares
- Avoidance of people, places or things that cause individuals to relive their experiences
- Having difficulty sleeping
- Being startled easily
- Difficulty remembering key events of trauma
- Losing interest in hobbies or enjoyable activities
- Distorted emotions such as blaming oneself or having negative thoughts about the world
These are merely some of the most common experiences associated with trauma. To help us understand how to make sense of these events, we’ve included a breakdown for common categorization.
Types of Trauma
Researchers have recently begun using the terms Big T and Little T to describe traumatic events. Despite the differences in vernacular, they both have a significant impact on an individuals well-being.
Big T Trauma refers to a single event that results in some of the symptoms listed above. Some of the most common Big T events include violent physical or sexual attacks, serious injuries, or near death experiences. This can include experiences such as combat, domestic violence or anything else that fits this type of significant event.
Conversely, little t trauma refers to virtually all other scenarios that can result in a traumatic response. This includes situations like bullying, emotional abuse, living in impoverished conditions, physical or social isolation and more. The key difference is that little t consists of multiple events and includes daily life adversity that many of us encounter. Unlike Big T, it doesn’t often get labeled or recognized because it’s not considered to be a significant event. That’s why little t often gets swept under the rug and forgotten, which can lead to negative coping mechanisms such as addiction.
Connection Between Trauma & Addiction
Whether someone experiences big T or little t trauma, the results are often severe. That’s because trauma can literally rewire people’s brains in several ways. It most notably affects your fight or flight response systems. These reactions lie in the oldest parts of your brain and control whether or not your brain and body can remain at peace. Oftentimes, trauma will create maladaptive formations to peoples cortisol and adrenaline symptoms. In small and infrequent doses, this provides an evolutionary advantage. But trauma creates a scenario where your brain releases too much of these neurochemicals, too often, resulting in physiological changes.
These physiological changes often develop into physical coping mechanisms such as eating disorders, substance use, development of mental disorders and more.
Similar to the chicken and the egg, sometimes trauma will result in addiction and vice versa. Currently, most research focuses on traumatic events that occur in early childhood. According to a 2010 study by the NCBI, childhood traumatic experiences are highly co-occurring with lifetime dependence on substances. More than 70% of young people in addiction treatment have a history with trauma. Furthermore, up to 59% of adolescents who experience trauma are likely to develop substance use problems.
What this tells us is there is undoubtedly an extremely high connection between trauma and addiction. So the question is, how do we best treat the co-occurrence of trauma and addiction?
Best Ways to Treat Trauma & Addiction
There is no definitive answer on one best way to treat people with both substance use problems and trauma. However, there is a growing body of evidence that a combination of therapeutic treatment and supportive environment will create a safe space for people in recovery. One of the most beneficial ways to achieve this is through trauma informed care (TIC). Essentially, this approach assumes that more often than not, people have a history with trauma. Trauma informed care systems hold the thought that care takers must have a complete understanding of patient history in order to effectively treat any underlying conditions.
Most treatment facilities also utilize a clinical approach with therapeutic techniques proven to help people struggling with trauma. These typically include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Art and Music Therapy
- Trauma Systems Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
There are additional therapeutic resources for individuals who are treatment resistant or have found these approaches unhelpful. To learn more about our clinical practices, contact our team today.