Long ago I, while always sympathetic, looked down on those who had ‘allowed’ themselves to become heavily addicted to hard drugs or alcohol; yet, I myself have suffered enough unrelenting PTSD symptoms to have known, enjoyed and appreciated the great release upon consuming alcohol or THC.
Unfortunately, the greater the induced euphoria or escape one attains from the self-medicated experience, the more one wants to repeat the experience; and the more intolerable one finds their non-self-medicating reality, the more pleasurable that escape will likely be perceived. In other words, the greater one’s mental pain or trauma while not self-medicating, the greater the need for escape from one's reality, thus the more addictive the euphoric escape-form will likely be.
Especially when the substance abuse is due to past formidable mental trauma, the lasting solitarily-suffered turmoil can readily make each day an ordeal unless the traumatized mind is medicated.
... Early-life abuse or chronic neglect left unhindered typically causes the brain to improperly develop. It can readily be the starting point of a life in which the brain uncontrollably releases potentially damaging levels of inflammatory stress hormones and chemicals, even in an otherwise non-stressful daily routine.
It amounts to non-physical-impact brain damage in the form of PTSD. Among other dysfunctions, it has been described as an emotionally tumultuous daily existence, indeed a continuous discomforting anticipation of ‘the other shoe dropping’. For some of us it includes being simultaneously scared of how badly they will deal with the upsetting event, which usually never transpires. It can make every day a mental ordeal, unless the turmoil is prescription and/or illicitly medicated.
The way I see it is: as a moral rule, a mentally as well as a physically sound future should be every child’s foremost fundamental right — along with air, water, food and shelter — especially considering the very troubled world into which they never asked to enter. Yet, some people still hold a misplaced yet strong sense of entitlement when it comes to misperceiving children largely as obedient property to abuse.
Frank, thank you for your honest insight into the ways that coping from trauma can cause an addictive cycle to develop.
As you stated, children need to be emotionally nurtured along with having their basic physical needs met, so they do not have to endure long-term harm during the critical developmental years.
As counselors, we spend a lot of time comforting and reparenting those who were neglected, abused, abandoned and emotionally fractured in childhood. Those wounds can heal, but they come at a very high cost.
Thank you for reading this article on trauma and sharing your thoughts. We're glad you're here!
“The way a society functions is a reflection of the childrearing practices of that society. Today we reap what we have sown. Despite the well-documented critical nature of early life experiences, we dedicate few resources to this time of life. We do not educate our children about child development, parenting, or the impact of neglect and trauma on children.”
—Dr. Bruce D. Perry, Ph.D. & Dr. John Marcellus
.
“It’s only after children have been discovered to be severely battered that their parents are forced to take a childrearing course as a condition of regaining custody. That’s much like requiring no license or driver’s ed[ucation] to drive a car, then waiting until drivers injure or kill someone before demanding that they learn how to drive.”
—Myriam Miedzian, Ph.D.
.
“It has been said that if child abuse and neglect were to disappear today, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual would shrink to the size of a pamphlet in two generations, and the prisons would empty. Or, as Bernie Siegel, MD, puts it, quite simply, after half a century of practicing medicine, ‘I have become convinced that our number-one public health problem is our childhood’.”
Long ago I, while always sympathetic, looked down on those who had ‘allowed’ themselves to become heavily addicted to hard drugs or alcohol; yet, I myself have suffered enough unrelenting PTSD symptoms to have known, enjoyed and appreciated the great release upon consuming alcohol or THC.
Unfortunately, the greater the induced euphoria or escape one attains from the self-medicated experience, the more one wants to repeat the experience; and the more intolerable one finds their non-self-medicating reality, the more pleasurable that escape will likely be perceived. In other words, the greater one’s mental pain or trauma while not self-medicating, the greater the need for escape from one's reality, thus the more addictive the euphoric escape-form will likely be.
Especially when the substance abuse is due to past formidable mental trauma, the lasting solitarily-suffered turmoil can readily make each day an ordeal unless the traumatized mind is medicated.
... Early-life abuse or chronic neglect left unhindered typically causes the brain to improperly develop. It can readily be the starting point of a life in which the brain uncontrollably releases potentially damaging levels of inflammatory stress hormones and chemicals, even in an otherwise non-stressful daily routine.
It amounts to non-physical-impact brain damage in the form of PTSD. Among other dysfunctions, it has been described as an emotionally tumultuous daily existence, indeed a continuous discomforting anticipation of ‘the other shoe dropping’. For some of us it includes being simultaneously scared of how badly they will deal with the upsetting event, which usually never transpires. It can make every day a mental ordeal, unless the turmoil is prescription and/or illicitly medicated.
The way I see it is: as a moral rule, a mentally as well as a physically sound future should be every child’s foremost fundamental right — along with air, water, food and shelter — especially considering the very troubled world into which they never asked to enter. Yet, some people still hold a misplaced yet strong sense of entitlement when it comes to misperceiving children largely as obedient property to abuse.
Frank, thank you for your honest insight into the ways that coping from trauma can cause an addictive cycle to develop.
As you stated, children need to be emotionally nurtured along with having their basic physical needs met, so they do not have to endure long-term harm during the critical developmental years.
As counselors, we spend a lot of time comforting and reparenting those who were neglected, abused, abandoned and emotionally fractured in childhood. Those wounds can heal, but they come at a very high cost.
Thank you for reading this article on trauma and sharing your thoughts. We're glad you're here!
“The way a society functions is a reflection of the childrearing practices of that society. Today we reap what we have sown. Despite the well-documented critical nature of early life experiences, we dedicate few resources to this time of life. We do not educate our children about child development, parenting, or the impact of neglect and trauma on children.”
—Dr. Bruce D. Perry, Ph.D. & Dr. John Marcellus
.
“It’s only after children have been discovered to be severely battered that their parents are forced to take a childrearing course as a condition of regaining custody. That’s much like requiring no license or driver’s ed[ucation] to drive a car, then waiting until drivers injure or kill someone before demanding that they learn how to drive.”
—Myriam Miedzian, Ph.D.
.
“It has been said that if child abuse and neglect were to disappear today, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual would shrink to the size of a pamphlet in two generations, and the prisons would empty. Or, as Bernie Siegel, MD, puts it, quite simply, after half a century of practicing medicine, ‘I have become convinced that our number-one public health problem is our childhood’.”
—Childhood Disrupted, pg.228