Addiction is usually a symptom of underlying trauma, or mental health issues that are the manifestation of trauma. The word “pain” is often referred to trauma and other underlying issues, whether it’s past sexual or physical abuse, the pain of not being able to control one’s thoughts and emotions, loss and grief, physical pain or whatever is causing the unpleasant feelings. Untreated trauma is a leading factor in the addiction relapse system and why so many recovering individuals substitute one addiction for another in the cycle of Addiction Interaction Disorder.
When people are exposed to chronic stressful events, their neurodevelopment can be disrupted. As a result, the person’s cognitive functioning or ability to cope with negative or disruptive emotions may be impaired.
Unfortunately, many people experience trauma at some point in their life and don’t understand or acknowledge the trauma, so it goes untreated and manifests itself in fear and hopelessness, depression, anxiety, and in the most severe cases as these events repeat will then present with complex trauma.