Exposure to trauma and substance abuse often accompany each other. Traumatic experiences can lead an individual to self-medicate in order to forget the experience or calm their nerves, guilt, and agitation. Let’s explore the question, what is trauma, and examine what you can do for yourself if you’ve had a traumatic experience and are now struggling with substance abuse.
What Is Trauma?
We answer the question, “what is trauma?” with this definition–severely distressing situations or events constitute “traumatic events.”
Some situations or events are isolated and last for just a few moments or several days. But traumatic situations can also extend for weeks, months, or years. Some examples of traumatic events include:
- Living in a violent community or war-torn environment
- Witnessing a violent or sudden death or serious injury
- Enduring or witnessing family violence or domestic abuse
- Enduring a natural disaster, such as a fire, flood, earthquake, or hurricane
- Going through a life-threatening illness or witnessing one
How Can Therapy Help?
Therapy at a professional rehab center helps individuals who have endured a traumatic experience in many ways. First, it provides a safe and open space for those struggling to talk about their feelings and emotions. Sometimes, just discussing what happened and how it made them feel can start a great foundation for healing.
Furthermore, trauma therapy can expose shame, guilt, or self-blame that the individual is feeling. Getting to these issues is important because these are often the issues that cause the substance abuse. Being supported in individual, one-on-one therapy sessions and in group sessions helps these individuals know they are not alone and they are not to blame.
At Healing Springs Ranch, we often see clients who ask the question what is trauma when they arrive. It’s all too common for guests to not understand that they’ve been through a serious trauma and that this is often the root of their substance abuse issues.
At our substance abuse treatment facility, we offer therapy to these individuals in order to help them get to the bottom of their addictions. We can help you with any traumatic experience that you’ve had as well.
Healing Springs Ranch offers several core programs, including:
- Dual diagnosis
- Short-term residential treatment
- The Functional Living Wellness Program
- Family program
- Relapse prevention
At our facility, we have a caring community that is always ready to embrace new guests and offer support. At the core of our programs is the understanding that all addictions, treatments, and therapies need to be personalized to account for the unique guests that we accommodate. We offer individualized programs that cater to you–not to anyone else.
Get the Help You Need at Healing Springs Ranch
Don’t wait any longer for help about the trauma you’ve experienced. If it led to substance abuse in your life, your trauma needs some therapy in order for you to heal and recover. The only place to do this while also treating a substance abuse problem is at a professional, high-quality rehab center like Healing Springs Ranch.
We want to help you get your life back. Give us a call today at 866-656-8384 to speak with an addiction counselor and get started.