Trauma & Addiction Articles

About This Collection

This collection reflects an earlier phase of my clinical work as a therapist, shaped by many years of listening to individuals and families affected by trauma and addiction. These articles explore how patterns of coping and behavior often emerge as meaningful responses to stress, threat, and lived experience.

While my current writing focuses more explicitly on interoception, this work continues to inform how I understand regulation, recovery, and well-being. Some articles have been lightly updated and are offered here for readers interested in understanding trauma and addiction through a compassionate, nervous-system-informed perspective.

Topics include:

Addiction and Recovery
Trauma (and it’s connection to addiction)
Emotional and Mental Health
Tools and Practices

Explore the articles below.

Featured

How Addiction Erodes the Sense of Self

How patterns of use slowly reshape identity and create disconnection.

Why One Addiction Often Turns Into Another

How the search for relief can move from one behavior to another.

Why Calm Can Feel So Hard

When the nervous system has learned to expect tension or threat.

When Trauma Quietly Drives Addiction and Relapse

How unresolved experiences can shape patterns of use beneath awareness.

Why Childhood Trauma Matters in Suicide Prevention

How early experiences shape vulnerability, distress, and risk over time.

9 Common Addiction Myths (and What’s Actually True)

What’s often misunderstood about addiction—and what actually helps.

Treating Trauma and Addiction Together: What Clinicians Need to Know

Why trauma and addiction need integrated approaches to healing.

How Addiction Changes the Brain (and Why Cravings Feel So Powerful)

Why cravings can feel so powerful and difficult to override.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): How Early Trauma Shapes Health and Addiction

How early trauma shapes long-term health and addiction patterns

When Stress and Substance Use Collide

How stress amplifies urges to use and disrupts internal balance.

Why Drinking Escalates During Stressful Gatherings

Why alcohol use can increase in stressful social settings.

Why a Sober Month Can Feel So Hard (and What Helps)

How feeling overwhelmed can quietly reinforce patterns of use.

When Self-Pity Fuels Addiction

How self-pity can deepen cycles of disconnection and reinforce substance use.

The Vortex of Addiction: Why Substance Use Becomes So Hard to Escape

Why substance use can become increasingly difficult to escape.

The Vortex of Addiction: A Summary About How People Get Stuck (and How They Heal)

How people become stuck in addiction—and how change becomes possible.

10 Trauma Myths That Make Healing Harder

Misconceptions that can interfere with understanding and healing trauma.

7 Tools for Addiction Recovery

Practical tools that support regulation, awareness, and sustainable recovery.

7 Things to Know About Mental Health and Addiction

How mental health challenges and substance use are often intertwined.

When Anxiety and Substance Use Collide

How anxiety and substance use interact, often intensifying both over time.

10 Reasons to Make This Your Recovery Month

Ten meaningful ways to support recovery.

Trauma and Addiction: The Link We Can’t Ignore (Free eBook)

How trauma and addiction are linked through the body’s stress system.

Shame, Connection, and Becoming Real

How shame disrupts connection—and how connection supports healing.

3 Essential Things To Understand About Self-Harm

Key insights into self-harm and the role it plays in coping and regulation.

Continuing the Exploration

The ideas explored in this guide reflect many years of clinical work in trauma and addiction. Over time, these questions led toward a deeper focus on interoception—the body’s capacity to sense and interpret internal signals and its role in regulation, emotional well-being, and recovery.

If you are interested in learning more:

Explore Interoception