Exploring the Connection Between Trauma and Addiction
Defining Trauma: Trauma is an overwhelming stress reaction that a person is unable to manage. Whether it occurs in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, trauma often manifests physically over time.
Initially, an individual facing a traumatic experience might endure a range of emotions. Intense negative emotions could dominate initially—feelings such as anger, fear, sadness, guilt, embarrassment, or even denial. Sometimes, there's an experience of emotional numbness, characterized by an inability to feel pleasure or pain.
Regardless of its emotional impact, trauma eventually leads to physiological manifestations.
How Are Trauma and Addiction Connected?
Environmental stress and traumatic incidents significantly influence addiction. While they are not the sole determinants of addictive behavior, they are notably prevalent factors.
Personality traits and genetic predispositions also contribute to addiction. However, stress and trauma are consistently linked to those battling addiction issues.
Research published in the Journal of Restorative Medicine highlights childhood trauma and abuse as pivotal factors that heighten addiction susceptibility. For instance, it states that “the brains of maltreated children have been shown to be smaller by 7 or 8% in comparison to average, with reduced volume in multiple brain areas.”
When a child experiences suboptimal brain development, it can lead to deficiencies in areas such as:
- Impulse-control within the prefrontal cortex
- Communication between the brain's hemispheres
- The limbic and emotional brain structures
These deficits significantly increase the likelihood of developing addictive behaviors, underscoring the strong connection between trauma and addiction.
What Are Trauma's Physical Impacts?
Understanding the physical effects of trauma is crucial for both the affected individuals and healthcare providers. Identifying trauma as the root of an addict's physical symptoms helps treatment centers avoid misdiagnosis and offer appropriate guidance for sustainable recovery.
Key physiological effects of trauma include:
Panic Attacks
For those who have encountered adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma, panic attacks may seem a normal part of life. Yet, they stem from intense fear and anxiety. They can be triggered when past trauma is suddenly recalled, either internally or externally. During a panic attack, uncontrollable physical symptoms may include:
- Excessive sweating
- Shaking or trembling
- Rapid breathing
- Dizziness and/or nausea
- Chest pain
- Increased heart rate
- Fainting due to reduced blood flow
- Feeling numb and dissociated
In severe cases, hyperventilation might occur—characterized by rapid and deep breathing that leads to a feeling of breathlessness due to decreased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the blood.
Altered Brain Function
As previously mentioned, traumatic experiences, particularly during childhood or adolescence, can result in brain deficiencies or underdevelopment. For example, the amygdala, responsible for detecting and processing threats, may become impaired. If damaged, individuals might misinterpret risky situations, leading to substance abuse and addiction despite harmful outcomes.
This is evident in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). On one hand, individuals managing prolonged traumatic stress may engage in dangerous situations without clear responses.
Conversely, being in constant fear makes one hyper-vigilant, always ready for action even if the perceived threat is not real. Hyper-vigilance can also disrupt sleep patterns, causing insomnia.
Digestive Problems
The digestive system is closely tied to brain function, hence why intense emotions and stress can impact gut health and function. Minor stress can lead to gastrointestinal discomfort or pain when experiencing severe stress, anxiety, or fear.
In more serious cases, stress and trauma can disrupt the brain-gut connection, manifesting as bloating, nausea, or even gut inflammation and food sensitivities. High stress might alter food movement within the body, causing diarrhea, constipation, painful muscle spasms, and chronic bowel issues like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Since the gut is considered the body's second brain, any impairment in the brain likely affects the gastrointestinal system as well.
Persistent Pain
One of trauma's most severe effects, often leading to substance abuse, is chronic pain that often lacks a clear cause. This pain, known as chronic pain, may originate from past injuries that never fully heal or from trauma memories that continue to cause suffering.
Regardless, the nervous system can experience central sensitization or increased pain sensitivity. Even if the injury heals, the nervous system remains reactive, resulting in lower pain tolerance and ongoing discomfort.
Managing Trauma and Addiction
The ability to manage trauma's physical and emotional effects varies among individuals. However, resources such as supportive relationships and therapeutic counseling from treatment centers offer a solid foundation for beginning the healing process.
For example, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy has been effective in addressing trauma by combining cognitive and affective/body processing.
Complete healing from trauma is possible, though the process can be exhausting. You are not alone in this journey. To discover more about starting your healing process at Impact Recovery, reach out to a team member here.
