Is there a link between childhood trauma and addiction?

The Blue Knot Foundation is the National Centre of Excellence for complex trauma. Last week, their newsletter included an article titled “Is there a link between childhood trauma and addiction?”  The piece outlines why in some circumstances, childhood trauma may result in people using alcohol and other drugs as a coping strategy to help manage distressing symptoms of trauma.

The article also provides a client and consumer perspective from some interviews conducted in 2010 with service users who had attended alcohol and other drug services and had a trauma history. Many of these people reported that they were unaware of the links between their trauma experiences and their alcohol and other drug problems, until entering treatment services that were trauma informed.

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