Why Your Trauma Could Cause Addiction

There is a strong link between trauma and every kind of addiction. But one of the questions that I ask families to figure this out, I will say, did you know this person before the drinking was a problem? And usually if it's the partner, they'll say yes. And I'll say, was the trauma impacting their life a lot before the drinking got to be a big problem? And usually they'll say no. Like they're together. Like, yes, it was there and it was a thing. And maybe they had a few triggers, but it wasn't like they weren't functioning or they thought about it all the time or anything like that. But when the drinking starts, it's like the trauma. It's like the ghost of past are haunting you very actively when you're in that active addiction. And so it leads family members down all the wrong paths of how to help, how to fix it.