A traumatic event can happen to anyone. And when this event eventually subsides, the trauma from it can linger for years (even decades). As a result, the effects of trauma on the brain can lead to a mental health disorder called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
However, this trauma can also lead those with PTSD to develop addictions as a way to cope with their symptoms. And when you have a dual diagnosis of both of these conditions, it’s easy to wonder how you can ever get better. However, the right trauma-informed care at a dual diagnosis treatment center can often be a critical component to your lasting healing.
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
PTSD affects about 3.5% of adults in the United States every year, shares the American Psychiatric Association. As a mental health disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder can arise after you’ve experienced or witnessed a single traumatic event or a series of events or circumstances over time. These life-threatening, stressful, and terrifying events are usually emotionally or physically harmful and impact your mental, physical, social, or spiritual well-being. Common traumatic experiences associated with PTSD include:
- Serious accidents
- Acts of terrorism
- Natural disasters
- War
- Sexual assault or rape
- Bullying
- Intimate partner violence
- Robbery
- Childbirth
- Serious health challenges
- Historical trauma
Because of the traumatic events often tied to PTSD, it’s often associated with military veterans, as 7 out of every 100 veterans will have PTSD at some point in their lives, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. However, PTSD can occur in everyday people as well as they grapple with the effects of trauma on the brain. It may arise shortly after the event takes place, or PTSD can actually develop weeks, months, or years later.
The onset of PTSD brings intense, often disturbing thoughts and feelings associated with your traumatic experience. Such thoughts may occur as nightmares or flashbacks that cause you to relive the event over and over again. You can also experience difficult emotions like sadness, fear, or anger that drive you to distrust others or remain hypervigilant. Or you may even avoid people or places that remind you of your past trauma as a result of PTSD. Here’s a breakdown of the common symptoms associated with PTSD:
Common Symptoms of PTSD
- Aggressive behavior and irritability
- Constantly being on guard for danger
- Startling easy or getting frightened after loud noises
- Negative thoughts or feelings about yourself, society, or others
- Memory challenges
- Detachment and isolation from others
- Emotional numbness
- Avoiding discussion about a traumatic event
- Avoiding activities, places, or people that trigger memories of your trauma
- Repetitive unwanted memories of your traumatic event
- Flashbacks or nightmares
- Strong reactions or distress associated with reminders of your traumatic event
How Trauma Affects the Brain
Knowing how trauma affects the brain can help you better understand PTSD’s impact, as well as addiction when a dual diagnosis occurs. Believe it or not, when you experience a traumatic event, your brain’s neurochemistry actually gets altered. This chemistry change can cause your brain to function differently, generating a protective response called “Fear Circuitry,” explains the University of Northern Colorado.
When Fear Circuitry mode kicks in, your prefrontal cortex—the section of your brain responsible for rational thinking, decision making, remembering, etc.—will not work as reliably as it gets bypassed entirely. After all, your brain is in survival mode. Other effects of trauma on the brain include:
- Tonic immobility – going limp, passing out, or being unable to move or speak as a survival reflex
- Disassociation – feeling disconnected from your body and going into “autopilot” as you make decisions based on habit
- Impacted memories – having gaps in the things you remember as your brain doesn’t encode memories in chronological order
- Distinguishing between past and present – experiencing the memory of a traumatic event as if it’s actually happening due to your brain’s struggles to determine if a memory is from the past or a current experience
When you have PTSD specifically, both your brain’s prefrontal cortex and hippocampus don’t work properly as a result, shares NHS Wales. This makes it easier for you to feel overwhelmed with stress and anxiety even when real danger isn’t present. At the same time, your brain’s amygdala becomes more active, releasing more adrenaline and increasing your startle response. Your fight or flight response is also more easily triggered, raising your blood pressure and heart rate.
What are Co-Occurring Disorders?
Due to the challenging symptoms of PTSD, you’re often driven to self-medicate just to find some relief, as mentioned earlier. But because your prefrontal cortex isn’t working properly, you’re more susceptible to making poor decisions, especially when it comes to your coping mechanisms of choice. This leads many to pursue drugs or alcohol as self-medication tools because of their temporary effects. Yet over time, the continued use of these substances to cope can lead to a full-blown addiction. And at this point, you have co-occurring disorders on your hands, making your situation even worse.
Co-occurring disorders are the existence of both a mental health disorder and an addiction or substance use disorder simultaneously. Often, each disorder feeds off the other, leading to a vicious cycle that can be incredibly hard to break. As a result, co-occurring disorders can produce a number of difficult symptoms, including:
- Suicidal ideation
- Mood swings
- Increased irritability
- Social isolation and withdrawal from loved ones
- Medical concerns
- Aggressive behaviors
- Poor hygiene and malnutrition
- Insomnia
- Paranoia and confusion
- Profound sadness and emotional detachment
In the case of PTSD, it’s one of the most common mental health disorders associated with co-occurring disorders, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). In fact, having PTSD at any point is associated with the increased likelihood of a substance use disorder, shares the US Department of Veterans Affairs. One national study found that almost 45% of people with lifetime PTSD met the criteria for a substance use disorder or addiction, for example. However, though alcohol or other drugs may lead to temporary euphoria, numbed feelings, and relaxation, these substances can actually make mental health disorders like PTSD even worse over time.
Because of the complexity and severity of co-occurring disorders, they can be difficult to diagnose. And when a dual diagnosis isn’t properly identified, it can lead to further complications. That’s why it’s important to partner with dual diagnosis rehab centers if you think you may be struggling with PTSD and addiction.
Understanding Dual Diagnosis Treatment
What exactly is dual diagnosis treatment or rehab? The treatment of dual diagnosis means you can get professional help for each co-occurring disorder at the same time. This is important because it puts you in a more likely position to achieve long-term recovery. Since both co-occurring conditions are so intertwined, treating them one at a time is simply not effective. Though you may make progress on one co-occurring disorder, the other untreated condition only gets worse—eventually negating that initial progress over time. The best dual diagnosis rehab centers ensure that doesn’t happen by utilizing integrated treatment for both conditions. They’re also more adept at properly identifying a dual diagnosis, which helps to jumpstart your recovery process.
PTSD, Addiction, and Trauma-Informed Care
Addiction is 100% trauma-based, no matter if it’s tied to a mental health disorder or not. However, in the case of PTSD, the trauma connection to substance abuse is incredibly strong. That’s why dual diagnosis addiction treatment centers will utilize trauma-informed care as part of their treatment approach for PTSD and addiction recovery.
Trauma-informed care is rooted in the understanding that trauma has played a major impact on your co-occurring disorders and needs to be addressed in order for you to find true healing. As a result, your dual diagnosis treatment team will lead with compassion, understanding, and empathy in the therapy process. Each phase of treatment is trauma-sensitive, helping to remove the barriers that trauma has created. The key principles of trauma-informed care include:
- Creating a safe environment so you can explore your trauma without fear of harm or judgment
- Maintaining transparency to build trust between the treatment team and you
- Empowering you to have a choice in your treatment and what works best for you
- Creating a collaborative treatment process between you and the clinicians based on your personal needs and goals
- Restoring a sense of control to cultivate resilience, strength, and autonomy in your life
Trauma-informed care is essential in PTSD and addiction recovery as it helps you understand the connection between trauma, PTSD, and your addiction. And because of the safe place that a trauma-informed approach creates, you’re actually able to explore your past trauma without further re-traumatization. This helps you move beyond fight or flight mode so you can heal from your trauma and addiction, as well as be empowered to learn healthier ways to cope in the future that won’t lead to substance abuse.
Ready to Partner with a Trauma-Informed Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center?
At Defining Wellness Centers in Mississippi, we offer dual diagnosis treatment that can help you achieve long-term recovery from both PTSD and addiction. Our trauma-informed therapy approach is holistic, utilizing both experiential and evidence-based therapies in your treatment program. By partnering with us, you can have the confidence you need to navigate life not on trauma’s terms, but your own. Contact us today to get started.
