Unresolved trauma and addiction can shape someone’s life. When someone experiences a traumatic situation, they’re more likely to self-medicate, which can lead to an addiction developing. This is why trauma therapy treatment is essential.
Traumatic situations change how people view themselves and how they interact with the world. Adding an addiction on top of that can result in problems with maintaining or growing relationships of all kinds. In many cases, the addictive substance seems to hold captive the person with the substance use disorder. More than being a crutch to deal with the symptoms of trauma, being dependent on an addictive substance can also damage a person’s health.
If you’re searching for a trauma therapy treatment program in Texas? Call Santé Direct Center for Healing at 866.238.3154 or contact our team online.
What’s the Connection Between Trauma and Addictions?
Sometimes, it’s not easy to discern the connection between childhood trauma and addictions. Drinking too much after getting fired, or misusing painkillers after a severe physical accident, is not hard to understand because there’s less time involved between events.
Childhood trauma usually remains unresolved and buried without a proper mental health care routine. The brain is one of the most adaptive things in existence. It can respond and adapt to anything that you experience during your life but sometimes it needs help. Otherwise, your childhood trauma can affect your life today. It can lead to inappropriate reactions to some situations, sensitivity to some topics, and even to the development of addictions. This is the through-line that runs from childhood trauma to substance use disorders.
Trauma—of any kind, not just those from childhood—can lead to many long-term mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These mental issues make self-medication more likely, providing a foundation for addiction to grow.
Can Clients Heal From Unresolved Trauma and Addiction at the Same Time?
When you’re struggling with both the effects of childhood trauma and addiction at the same time, you must seek healing for both at the same time. If you work on one while leaving the co-occurring issue untreated, you’ll not only have a harder time healing but the symptoms of the untreated issue will keep pulling you down. If you have PTSD and addiction as a dual diagnosis, for example, PTSD symptoms may trigger a relapse. In this case, you would benefit more from a trauma and addiction treatment program.
A trauma therapy program is ideal for people only dealing with a single mental health issue. A dual diagnosis program treats both co-occurring mental issues and helps clients discover the connection between their dual issues. This realization is the beginning of true healing for co-occurring mental problems.
What Can Clients Expect From a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program?
Dual diagnosis treatment programs are at the forefront of the world’s most trusted professional trauma and addiction recovery techniques. When a client is diagnosed with both a substance use disorder and another mental health disorder—such as depression or PTSD—their treatment program should be both comprehensive and complex. It should treat both disorders, as well as manage the results of their interactions.
Dual diagnosis treatment programs were actually not common until the 1990s—before then, substance abuse treatment and mental health treatment were done separately. Very few treatment facilities keep the treatments separate today. After all, studies have shown that clients often don’t qualify for mental health treatment until they’ve achieved sobriety.
Clients fare better in dual diagnosis treatment programs because all of the negative symptoms they experience are targeted, not just symptoms of one mental health disorder. Dual diagnosis treatment programs do this by including the following:
- Input from both addiction treatment specialists and mental health professionals
- Behavioral psychotherapy sessions that can be one-on-one or group
- Prescription medication for managing withdrawal symptoms or mental health issues
- Family involvement in the treatment process
Ready To Learn About Santé Center for Healing’s Trauma Therapy Treatment Program?
Looking for a trauma therapy treatment program or a dual diagnosis treatment program in Texas? Call 866.238.3154 or contact Santé Center for Healing’s team online.
