Certain factors are common among people affected by addiction. That includes exposure to at least one highly traumatic experience. If you’ve lived through such an experience, you may have overcome its effects. However, you may still be suffering from its impact in one way or another. If so, a trauma program can be essential support in your journey toward sobriety. Why? Effective trauma treatment benefits your addiction recovery in multiple kinds of ways.
Reach out to Fort Behavioral Health at 844.332.1807 for more information about our trauma program. We can help.
What Defines a Traumatic Experience?
Most experiences in life don’t overly tax your ability to cope mentally or physically. However, some do. In fact, you may go through experiences that seriously strain or even overwhelm your usual coping abilities. Occurrences of this type are traumatic. In other words, they trigger feelings such as:
- Fear or outright terror
- Emotional numbness
- Helplessness
- A sense of detachment from yourself or your surroundings
Traumatic experiences come in a wide variety of forms. They range from natural disasters and serious accidents to physical and sexual assaults and abuse.
The Potential Effects of Lingering Trauma
In the short run, a traumatic experience can be highly destabilizing. Over time, you may gradually regain a sense of emotional equilibrium. But unfortunately, this is not always the case. Significant numbers of people who live through traumatic experiences suffer from lingering effects. That’s especially true for children. It’s also often true for people who experience repeated or prolonged forms of trauma.
Lingering trauma can have a significant, negative impact on your well-being. For example, it’s the root cause of posttraumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD. People with PTSD have trauma-related symptoms that include:
- Unwanted thoughts and memories of a past trauma
- A powerful urge to avoid anything that can trigger traumatic memories
- Negative thoughts and moods that lead to a distorted view of reality
- Jumpiness, angry outbursts, and other signs of a hyper-alert mental state
Before developing PTSD, you may also develop another, shorter-term condition called acute stress disorder.
Unresolved trauma can also contribute to the development of a substance use disorder or SUD.
Many people with SUDs are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Others are not addicted but still experience serious harm as a result of their substance use. How does lingering trauma increase your SUD risks? In many cases, the source of the problem is an attempt to self-medicate your trauma-related symptoms with drugs or alcohol.
The Benefits of Trauma Treatment
There are numerous common advantages to effective treatment for lingering trauma. The list of trauma treatment benefits includes:
- Reduced exposure to unwanted thoughts or memories of your experiences
- A more realistic and positive outlook on your current situation
- Lowered odds of relapsing back into drug or alcohol use
- A greater ability to cope with everyday stresses and trauma triggers
- Improvements in your general function and sense of wellness
These benefits may be especially important if you’re affected by dual diagnosis. People with this condition have a diagnosable mental health condition like PTSD. They also have a diagnosable substance use disorder. Trauma therapy can support your recovery from both of these co-occurring issues.
Learn More About Trauma Treatment Benefits at Fort Behavioral Health
Want to know more about trauma treatment? Contact the recovery professionals at Fort Behavioral Health. We’ll help you gain a full picture of the many benefits of trauma treatment. We’ll also help you determine if you need this form of recovery support.
Fort Behavioral Health specializes in trauma therapy. We feature a customized approach that promotes effective recovery from addiction. It also promotes effective recovery from dual diagnosis. For more information, call us today at 844.332.1807. You can also contact us through our online form.
