Trauma often goes hand in hand with addiction and alcoholism. We have seen many different types of trauma at our treatment center for women.
When people think of trauma, they most often think of a singular event that has negatively impacted a person. But trauma can come in many forms, each of which can have long-term consequences for a person who has experienced any of them. We have found at our treatment center for women who are suffering from chemical dependency that trauma is often a precursor to addiction.
According to Michael
Levittan,Ph.D.,who spoke on
post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) at a National Alliance on
Mental Health conference,trauma
can take the following forms:
Psychic trauma: This type of trauma affects a person’s brain, mind and emotions.
Global trauma: Global trauma affects a mass of people, city, state, country or the world.
Vicarious trauma: This type of trauma is experienced indirectly, by proxy or through the experience of another.
Cumulative trauma: Cumulative trauma is a series of traumatic experiences which has an effect that is more than the sum of their collective parts.
Chronic trauma: This is the repeated experience of the same traumatic event or events.
Retraumatization: Re-experiencing traumatic symptoms by means of a cue or symbol reminiscent of the original trauma.
Childhood trauma: The experience of an overwhelming event during the dependency period of youth.
Intergenerational trauma: Trauma experienced by caretakers (i.e., parents or elders) passed on to offspring via reenactments or identifications.
Complex trauma: The experience of prolonged, repetitive or various trauma which leads to characteristic personality changes, distortions of identity and deformations of relatedness.
Traumatic reenactment: The manifestation of an internal drive to re-experience a trauma again and again.
Effects of Trauma
Trauma of any form can result in altered behaviors, damaged attachments and negative habitual behaviors. Core symptoms of trauma include the following:
- Sleep disruptions
- Problems with interpersonal relationships
- Difficulty maintaining attention
- Disruptions in thinking
- Memory lapses
- Problems regulating emotions and behaviors
- Damage to self-identity
The effects of trauma can begin immediately or take some time to develop. In most cases, the effects of trauma are very disruptive to everyday living. And while many people can find a way to live with the symptoms of trauma, they are unlikely to go away without the right kind of trauma treatment.
Treating Trauma
Treating trauma requires a safe and nurturing environment that allows a person to fully explore both the trauma itself and any issues related to the trauma. Reliving a traumatic event can be difficult, and it is best done with a therapist who specializes in trauma or at a residential treatment center for trauma.
Through treatment, a person who has experienced trauma can find a way to address the trauma in such a way that allows them to process the memories and emotions associated with that event. Only then can someone learn to understand how and why their behaviors changed, as well as healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with any ongoing stressors.
Please contact our team at The Rose if you have any further questions by calling 888-471-0435.