Trauma and Addiction: Ending the Cycle of Pain Through Emotional Literacy

by Dayton, Tian

• ISBN13: 9781558747517
• ISBN10: 1558747516
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-01
• Publisher: SIMON & SCHUSTER

Summary

For the past decade, author Tian Dayton has been researching trauma and addiction, and how psychodrama (or sociometry group psychotherapy) can be used in their treatment. Since trauma responses are stored in the body, a method of therapy that engages the body through role play can be more effective in accessing the full complement of trauma-related memories. This latest book identifies the interconnection of trauma and addictive behavior, and shows why they can become an unending cycle. Emotional and psychological pain so often lead to self-medicating, which leads to more pain, and inevitably more self-medicating, and so on--ad infinitum. This groundbreaking book offers readers effective ways to work through their traumas in order to heal their addictions and their predilection toward what clinicians call self-medicating (the abuse of substances [alcohol, drugs, food], activities [work, sex, gambling, etc.] and/or possessions [money, material things].) Readers caught up in the endless cycle of trauma and addiction will permanently transform their lives by reading this book. Therapists treating patients for whom no other avenue of therapy has proved effective will find that this book offers practical, lasting solutions. Case studies and examples of this behavioral phenomenon will illustrate the connection, helping readers understand its dynamics, recognize their own situations and realize that they are not alone in experiencing this syndrome. The author deftly combines the longstanding trauma theories of Van der Kolk, Herman, Bowlby, Krystal and others with her own experiential methods using psychodrama, sociometry and group therapy in the treatment of addiction and posttraumatic stress disorder. While designed to be useful to therapists, this book will also be accessible to trade readers. It includes comprehensive references, as well as a complete index.

Author Biography

Tian Dayton, Ph.D.,TEP, holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, a master's in educational psychology and is a certified trainer and practitioner of psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy. A fellow of the American Society of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy, she is in private practice in New York City. She speaks nationwide at conferences and has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, The John Walsh Show, Montel, Rikki Lake, Geraldo, America's Health Network, Gary Null, NPR and many more. She is the author of thirteen books.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	xv
The Connection Between Trauma and Addiction	1	(24)
Emotions and Emotional Literacy	25	(32)
How Trauma and Addiction Undermine Healthy Styles of Relating in Families and Intimate Relationships	57	(40)
Trauma in the Body and in the Brain: The Body-Mind Connection	97	(26)
Personality Characteristics of Adult Children of Trauma and Addiction: What Happened to Me?	123	(36)
Why Am I Stuck in This Loop?	159	(16)
Why Isn't My Life Working the Way I Want It To?	175	(18)
Letter Writing as a Healing Tool: John's Story	193	(14)
Two Different Worlds: The Social Atom as a Healing Tool	207	(14)
Journaling as a Healing Tool	221	(28)
Photographs as a Healing Tool: Eva's Story	249	(14)
Psychodrama as a Healing Tool	263	(24)
The Character Component---Intangible Aspects of Recovery: Resilience, Mental Set and Integration	287	(24)
Treatment	311	(20)
An Ounce of Prevention: A Case for Emotional Literacy	331	(10)
Appendix	341	(32)
Glossary of Psychodramatic Terms	373	(6)
Bibliography	379	(10)
Index	389

Excerpts

from Chapter OneTHE ORIGINS OF TRAUMAHe that conceals his grief finds no remedy for it.Turkish ProverbTrauma, by its very nature, renders a person emotionally illiterate. What happens feels out of the norm, hard to pin down, elusive and strange, so we don't integrate it into our context of normal living. The brain, like any good computer, categorizes information by type. For example, traumas such as the school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, or a devastating hurricane or being raped are not part of our daily routines, so we don't have well-developed mental categories for organizing our impressions of them. They seem unreal, out of the ordinary, and they need to be talked through to make them feel real. Talking about trauma, going over what happened, contextualizes it so we can integrate it. Also, if we do not process trauma, the result can be serious and ongoing life complications such as depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, anger, feelings of betrayal, and trouble trusting and cornecting in relationships. Such are the symptoms that, when unresolved, lead people to seek pleasure or self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, food, sex, spending and other addictions. Because of the unpredictable, uncontrollable and traumatic nature of substance abuse and addiction, people who are chemically dependent, or those in an addict's family system such as spouses, children and siblings, usually experience some form of psychological damage. Family members as well as many addicts present disorders that extend across a range of clinical syndromes, such as anxiety disorders, reactive and endogenous depression, psychosomatic symptoms, psychotic episodes, eating disorders and substance abuse, as well as developmental deficits, distortions in self-image, confused inner world with disorganized internal dynamics, and co-dependence. Chronic tension, confusion and unpredictable behavior, as well as physical and sexual abuse, are typical of addictive environments and create trauma symptoms. Individuals in addictive systems behave in ways consistent with the behaviors of victims of other psychological traumas. For example, trauma victims often develop "learned helplessness'-a condition in which they lose the capacity to appreciate the connection between their actions and their ability to influence their lives (Seligman 1975) as do individuals in addictive systems. "Persons are traumatized when they face uncontrollable life events and are helpless to affect the outcome of those events." (Lindemann 1944). Many people suffer deep emotional and psychological pain and are systematically traumatized from living with addicts. After repeated failures and disappointments while trying to gain some semblance of control, feelings of fear, frustration, shame, inadequacy, guilt, resentment, self-pity and anger mount, as do rigid defense systems. A person who is abused or traumatized may develop dysfunctional defensive strategies or behaviors designed to ward off emotional

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Excerpted from Trauma and Addiction: Ending the Cycle of Pain Through Emotional Literacy by Tian Dayton, Tian Dayton,
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