Dr. Don Wood argues Whitney Houston's death reveals addiction as a symptom, not a disease. People use drugs to numb trauma-driven pain, and treatment that ignores the underlying trauma fails. Real recovery requires addressing what people are running from, not just what they're running toward.
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This is the real reason why Whitney Houston died. Whitney Houston, a lot of people know as a celebrity singer. It was surprising to see somebody as talented as Whitney Houston get involved in the struggles of addiction with drugs and alcohol. Thousands of people every day are dying in the United States and around the world from drugs and alcohol and addiction. However, a lot of people think that that is what the problem is. Addiction is not the problem. Addiction is, is a solution to their pain. Addiction is the symptom of the problem. A lot of people have experienced trauma, end up having no other solution to their pain except to numb themselves. And they can do that with drugs and alcohol. And let me give you an example. If you and I were standing beside each other and I was shaking your hand, and I started to squeeze your hand so tightly that the pain was just overbearing, and then I said to you, just take a drink of this alcohol, and I'll let go immediately. What happens is you get a dopamine hit because your mind feels good that the pain stopped. But is that the reason you took the drink? No, the reason you took the drink was so I would stop the pain. So it's not about wanting to get high. It's about wanting to stop the pain. The current solution to addiction is basically rehab. However, in my mind, the key is to get to the root of the problem. I talk about addiction as being a code. Your brain has learned a code on how to stop pain. The more you repeat it, the stronger the code becomes. So the current solution to addiction is to rewire the code, get you to stay away from drugs and alcohol. However, I say we need to get to the root of the problem, which is the trauma that created the code in the first place.
