What is the Connection Between Childhood Trauma and Addiction?

Childhood is considered the best part of anyone's life. No tension, no worry, only happiness. No, actually it's not true, studies have shown that every 1 out of 4 children in the world experiences a terrible traumatic experience. This figure may be different for another part of the globe. But we can't ignore the fact that childhood Trauma is a ground reality.

We are living in such a modern world that has been designed to give you stress and tension throughout. You will have to earn money, work hard, and keep yourself updated in order to survive in this cat race.

You know that life without phones can be much better for you as well as your family but you can't leave your phone. This is the harsh fact that in order to make our life easy with the help of technology and the modern way of living, we have actually trapped ourselves in this cage.

We have moved way ahead and now you will have to suck out happiness from this stressful mode of living in order to live happily.

Correlation between childhood Trauma and addiction

The brain of a child is considered to be pure, they will learn whatever they will see, hear and what their surroundings will teach them. This is what we call plasticity in scientific terms.

You must have experienced that a child used to catch everything they see or hear very quickly. However it's not always positive, if any child will experience anything negative, it'll affect their brain in the same way. These positives and negatives have a combined effect on the development of a child's brain. Experts have provided a direct connection between Childhood Trauma and addiction.

Childhood Trauma is the result of different incidents they have faced throughout their childhood. Studies have shown that traumatic experience in childhood affects our brain way more than traumatic experience in adulthood.

Some of the possible reasons for childhood Trauma are-

• Bullying or harassment
• Death of a parent
• Sexual abuse
• Experienced domestic violence
• Earthquake or any natural disaster
• Divorce of parent
• Went through kidnapping or shooting

There are many other possible reasons that can lead to traumatic childhood experiences.

Data from ACE(adverse childhood experience) has shown that anyone with an ace score of more than 5 in 7 to 10 times more likely to follow any addictive substance or habit. Thus providing Childhood trauma and addiction relationships.

Let's take an example- There is a family that includes a father, a mother and a son. Both the parents are toxic in nature due to XYZ reasons. Now for every small and big reason instead of supporting and loving their son, they abuse and harass him. One year then after 2 years then 4 years, this toxic parenting continues.

Now, this has terribly impacted that son's brain. At the time when his brain was supposed to learn positive things and grow, he had experienced traumatic harassment. He can't even expect someone else's support because it's his parents who are the reason behind this.

In this condition, there are high chances of that child developing an addiction to alcoholism, drugs or any other addictive thing. These traumatic experiences not only affect children's minds but also their self-esteem and emotional development. If you know someone who is addicted due to whatsoever, contact Jagruti Rehab centre, the best Nasha Mukti Kendra in Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Top 3 forms of trauma that lead to addiction

As we have discussed above, there can be different reasons behind a traumatic childhood. Every trauma has its different impact more or less. The most found case also differs on the basis of parenting, region and surrounding. But independent from all of these top 3 reasons that lead to a traumatic childhood is-

i) Death of a parent

If you are reading this article, you must be an adult, you may have experienced that just by the thought of our parent's death, our body, as well as soul, gets affected. Think about that child who is 24*7 dependent on his/her mother/ father.

If they lose his mother/father in his childhood only, how devastating that would be for him. That's possibly the most traumatic experience of a child's life. Maybe that face or the reason for death(maybe murder or accident) lives with that child throughout their life. And that thing can lead him towards addiction in order to feel better.

ii)Bullying

Bullying is terribly traumatic for a child, whatever the reason may be. Many children used to be bullied by their schoolmates or friends on the basis of skin colour, religion, body shape, height and God knows how many things.

This continuous harassment leads to developing a brain with feelings of revenge, addiction to alcoholism, drugs, gambling etc. Many cases had been seen in the past when the one who was bullied murdered those who had bullied him/her. So, this is the impact of Bullying.

iii) Physical or sexual abuse

This is a kind of trauma that the child can't even share or be able to forget for a long time. If any child is a victim of rape, that becomes the most traumatic experience for that child throughout their life.

These incidents highly affect their self-esteem, confidence and mental health. For some, it's like a haunted experience that keeps on refreshing again and again. And these are the traumas that lead to addiction like drugs, alcohol, or other bad habits in order to make themselves feel good and forget those experiences.

Solution for childhood trauma and alcoholism or other addiction

If you are someone who is facing these traumas, then you need to visit a rehabilitation centre. Let’s say you are from UP, then search for-

• Rehabilitation centre in Noida, Uttar Pradesh
• Rehab in Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Noida has a centre of India’s best Nasha Mukti Kedra called Jagruti Rehab. You may also contact us by visiting the contact us section on our website.