Article: How Dealing With Past Trauma May Be the Key to Breaking Addiction


Guest LiterateParakeet
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I scanned through this thread and had a very difficult time relating to much of anything.

I have always believed that addictions are the result of lacking discipline.  That it is the long term result of a short sighted approach to life that begins with not paying attention to choices that become bad habits and eventually a loss of power to an abandonment of our G-d given agency.  In short I have believe that addictions are weak excuses for lacking discipline and allowing bad habits to exercise more control over our lives than we are willing to take responsibility for and thus blame something else seemingly beyond our control.

I would suggest that those having a problem start with the low hanging fruit.  Discipline yourself with something easy - everyday like making you bed or saying morning and night prayers everyday.  Then and another very simple and easy item of discipline.  Then another and another until your day becomes so full of discipline you have not time for any addictions.  

The scriptures tell us that Satan begins with flaxen cords and leads us around (away from discipline) until he has bound us in chains and destroyed our will to resist him (become addicted to his control).

The key to joy, happiness, spirituality and all things good is discipline.  The path to discouragement, temptation, sin and addictions all begin with the first step of indulgence (lack of discipline).  Jesus called his followers - disciples which implies discipline.

I believe the holy spirit is the joy of discipline and the unclean spirit is the fear of discipline.  Everyone feels the spirit and choses which spirit they will follow.

 

The Traveler

Edited by Traveler
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On 6/18/2019 at 4:23 PM, The Folk Prophet said:

On a personal and simplistic level, I know my addiction to caffeine (now broken) had nothing to do with filling some trauma hole. Soda tastes good. Pumped up on caffeine feels good. That's it. It wasn't compensation for feeling bad. It just felt good.

The "trauma" was feeling tired, lacking energy.  It was compensation for not feeling good enough. (Congrats on breaking it!  It's on my list to work on)

That's the thing, trauma is different for everyone and our reactions to trauma is different too.

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1 hour ago, dprh said:

The "trauma" was feeling tired, lacking energy.  It was compensation for not feeling good enough. (Congrats on breaking it!  It's on my list to work on)

That's the thing, trauma is different for everyone and our reactions to trauma is different too.

But the implication is that people have addictions because of trauma. I had no trauma that led me to use caffeine, and wasn't aware of the trauma breaking a physical addiction would cause, and therefore was not continuing with the addictive behavior to avoid that trauma. If, when trying to break the habit, the physical trauma I faced caused me to return to the caffeine then there might be some relation there -- but there's a kind of fallacy to the idea that trauma that's generated by the development of a physical addiction is the same trauma that caused the addiction in the first place. It's not comparing like to like.

Consider: If someone has pain and so they use pain killers, that is trauma leading to addiction. If someone has no pain but enjoys a side-effect of a certain pain killer then that is not trauma leading to addiction. Both might cause trauma from the addiction in the end, but to present it as if they both sprung from trauma is disingenuous.

Edited by The Folk Prophet
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17 hours ago, The Folk Prophet said:

But the implication is that people have addictions because of trauma. I had no trauma that led me to use caffeine, and wasn't aware of the trauma breaking a physical addiction would cause, and therefore was not continuing with the addictive behavior to avoid that trauma. If, when trying to break the habit, the physical trauma I faced caused me to return to the caffeine then there might be some relation there -- but there's a kind of fallacy to the idea that trauma that's generated by the development of a physical addiction is the same trauma that caused the addiction in the first place. It's not comparing like to like.

Consider: If someone has pain and so they use pain killers, that is trauma leading to addiction. If someone has no pain but enjoys a side-effect of a certain pain killer then that is not trauma leading to addiction. Both might cause trauma from the addiction in the end, but to present it as if they both sprung from trauma is disingenuous.

I think this thread is getting caught up on the word 'trauma'.  I re-read the article.  It says a couple times that addiction originates from a person's attempt to solve a problem.  That problem is often something traumatic, but it doesn't say it always is.  That was what I was alluding to regarding your caffeinated soda addiction.  Your 'problem' was probably feeling tired, lacking energy, and you knew a chemical means to fix that problem, a way to feel better than 'good.' 

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3 hours ago, dprh said:

I think this thread is getting caught up on the word 'trauma'.  I re-read the article.  It says a couple times that addiction originates from a person's attempt to solve a problem.  That problem is often something traumatic, but it doesn't say it always is.  That was what I was alluding to regarding your caffeinated soda addiction.  Your 'problem' was probably feeling tired, lacking energy, and you knew a chemical means to fix that problem, a way to feel better than 'good.' 

Fair enough. Though I'd say my "problem" was wanting a delicious tasting treat with zero calories to consume. Most diet sodas are caffeinated. 

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On 6/26/2019 at 2:40 PM, The Folk Prophet said:

Most diet sodas are caffeinated.

This was a source of frustration for me for many years. Then I started drinking the regular sodas and taking extra insulin, though I will still frequently choose Fresca over the other stuff when given the chance.

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