30/08/2023
Trauma, dissociazione e dipendenza.
Dissociative symptoms and addictive behaviors are also ingenious ways of altering consciousness and changing psychophysiological experience. Thus, the chemical dependency could be viewed as “just another” attempt at self- regulation, not so terribly different from self-injury or any other type of trauma- related impulsive behavior. In this way of thinking about addiction in the context of Complex PTSD, we begin with two assumptions:
The first assumption is that any addictive behavior begins as a SURVIVAL STRATEGY: as a way to numb, wall off intrusive memories, self-soothe, increase hypervigilance, combat depression, or facilitate dissociating. The ADDICTION results from the fact that these psychoactive substances require continual increases in dosage to maintain the same self-medicating effect and eventually are needed just to ward off physical and emotional withdrawal.
Thus, the substance use gradually acquires a life of its own that, over time, becomes increasingly disruptive to the client’s functioning until it is a greater threat to that individual’s life than the symptoms it attempts to keep at bay.
