Painful or unpleasant memories are a normal part of life.

It’s also normal to want to mask those memories in any way possible. You may turn to drugs, alcohol, food, or something else — but ultimately, the pain of your trauma may remain. Many people use addiction to shield their emotions; however, many don’t consider that their addiction may be fueling their emotions.

If you find yourself in the thick of an addiction, you may be wondering: is it possible that your addiction is the result of trauma? Let’s investigate.

How Your Trauma May be Fueling Your Addiction:

1. Your Addiction Makes You Feel Better in the Moment

When people suffer from addiction, fulfillment is typically very short-lived. Once you reach your high or content state-of-being, you may find that it’s all downhill from there. Sure, you feel better for a moment or two; but from there, you slowly but steadily tread back into reality. If your state of happiness is dependent on your addiction, that may be a sign that you’re too reliant on it. 

2. You Use Your Addiction to Mask Your True Feelings

Do you ever feel so guilty, ashamed, or sad about a past occurrence that you drink the pain away? Or, maybe you use drugs or food to take the pain away? Whatever the case, if you’re using some sort of substance to help you forget the pain of your trauma, you may be repressing memories from a more traumatic time. 

3. You Feel Ashamed About Your Actions

Have you ever awakened the next day to feel ashamed, embarrassed, or confused about your actions?  If so, you may be using addiction to mask your trauma. If you consistently feel embarrassed about your previous behavior, it could be a sign that your addiction is taking a stronger grip on you than before.

4. You Don’t Want to Talk About the Past

If you have traumatic memories, you may find that those memories are the last thing you want to talk about. It’s understandable (and completely okay!) that you don’t want to rehash unsavory memories from your past. However, you don’t want to suppress memories by abusing alcohol or other substances. It may feel like the best option at the moment — but you will ultimately have to face that emotion, memory, or trauma. 

5. You Don’t Know How to Move Forward

If you have an addiction, you may feel stuck in a loop of disarray. Everything revolves around your addiction, and you can’t go a single day without thinking about it. You may be unable to go a single day without thinking about your trauma, as well. It’s a vicious cycle: you have painful memories from unresolved trauma, so you use your addiction to avoid these negative memories. Ultimately, however, your addiction makes you feel worse in the long run, but you don’t know how to move forward. You may feel stuck in your current loop and unsure of how you can ever escape it. 

Resolving Your Trauma and Overcoming Addiction

It’s not easy to overcome an addiction. It isn’t easy to overcome trauma, either. The first step is to recognize that your unresolved trauma may be fueling your addiction. The second step is realizing that your addiction is a problem and that you don’t want to rely on it to keep your negative feelings at bay anymore. If you’re tired of relying on your addiction to alcohol, drugs, and even addictive behaviors, help is available. Depending on the severity of your specific addiction, you may want to see an addiction specialist to best understand the safest course of action.

As for your trauma, you can seek out a trauma-informed therapist to help you make sense of your troubling memories. By recognizing how your addiction may be the result of trauma, you are taking a brave step in trying to resolve it. With the help of a therapist, you can learn healthier ways of coping with your trauma. Over time, you will begin to feel better, and soon enough, you won’t rely on addiction to cope with your trauma. 

If you feel as though addiction has been consuming your life, take the first step, and seek out professional help today to make sense of your trauma. 

If you feel your addiction is resulting from something troubling in your past, do not hesitate to reach out to the Relationship Counseling Center of Austin. To read more, click here: Trauma Therapy. To schedule a session with a trained therapist, call at (512) 270-4883, or request an appointment on our Scheduling page.