CHILDHOOD TRAUMA CAUSES ADDICTION AND ADDICTION CAUSES TRAUMA

Addiction is any behavior that gives pleasure but ultimately is harmful and yet there is a compulsion to continue a destructive cycle that has consequences in many areas of your life. Addiction is not limited to drugs, alcohol but can be work, gym, relationships, technology etc. The addiction serves as a way to soothe pain and an attempt to deal with a “problem”. When we are babies we are helpless and dependent on our caregivers but if our caregivers are emotionally dysregulated and stressed out, abusive .chaotic, and unable to nurture and soothe then the babies nervous system becomes unable to deal with stress in a healthy way as the caregivers are directly effecting the babies developing brain and causing increased cortisol(stress hormone) So as a child develops the child has no resources to soothe themselves when stressed and looks for external ways to soothe rather than internal. .Childhood Attachment Trauma occurs as the baby is unable to feel safe in their body and not having any hope to be comforted . See ”Keys To Feeling Safe In Your Body” Addictions are an attempt to comfort but just as the baby became disconnected from self as no one was there to nurture and help the baby to internalize a “soothing” relationship with the caregiver:: addictions then cause multiple trauma and reinjury. Childhood Attachment trauma develops when as a child we did not have the opportunity to have a secure attachment bond formed and this causes a disconnect from oneself and an inability to regulate one’s emotions. Relationships are where we learn to regulate or dysregulate our emotions.

TRAUMA:DISCONNECTION FROM SELF

How does the disconnection from yourself effect your life now? The past is important only in how it effects the present, Addiction keeps you in a disconnection with yourself. You have gotten a message when you were most vulnerable that your emotions do not matter and that you are not valuable . Shame is: “I am a mistake” and shame fuels self hatred and emotional shutdown and the building of a “false self” rather than a deep knowing that what you need, feel, think really does matter and that in order to go forward in your healing your focus needs to be on who “truly” are.: Becoming “authentically you” without a need to distance or numb yourself from you and allowing yourself to become fully alive(as you “reclaim YOU”) See “Ways To Recognize You Do Not Value Yourself”

Time to give yourself the attention you so desperately need and have self care become an integral part of your life style. Self care includes giving yourself time to be with yourself and with others that are “safe” connections. We learn how to regulate our emotions in relationships so it s important who you allow to get close to you…you are precious and not for everyone!

“THE “RIGHT THERAPIST” CAN MAKE SOO MUCH DIFFERENCE

I would love to help you and guide you as you discover your “authentic self” and become fully alive no longer needing to “numb” and avoid yourself from the “inside out”. This can be an amazing transformational journey for you “as the grave clothes” come off and YOU RECLAIM YOU! That is what healing is all about so please give me a call so we can begin!