Trauma and addiction are deeply connected. Understanding that connection — and having tools for it — changes everything.
Nothing here is required. Move at whatever pace feels right for you.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences study found a direct, dose-dependent relationship between early trauma and adult health outcomes — including substance use.
Trauma hyperactivates the amygdala (threat detection) and suppresses the prefrontal cortex (reasoning and regulation). The result: emotional reactivity without the braking system.
Self-medication is not weakness — it is the brain finding a shortcut around intolerable pain. Understanding this changes how we approach recovery.
Answer only what you feel comfortable answering. Referring to the first 18 years of your life:
1. Did a parent or adult in your household often swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you?
2. Did a parent or adult in your household often push, grab, slap, or throw something at you?
3. Did an adult or person at least 5 years older ever touch or fondle you in a sexual way, or have you touch their body in a sexual way?
4. Did you often feel that no one in your family loved you, thought you were important, or took care of each other?
5. Did you often feel that you didn't have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, and had no one to protect you?
6. Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
7. Was your mother or stepmother often pushed, grabbed, slapped, kicked, or threatened with a weapon?
8. Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker, alcoholic, or who used street drugs?
9. Was a household member depressed, mentally ill, or did they ever attempt suicide?
10. Did a household member go to prison?
Trauma takes many forms. All of them are valid. Tap to explore each one.
Grounding techniques bring you back to the present when trauma pulls you away from it. Pick one and practice.
The window of tolerance is where learning and healing happen. Trauma shrinks it. Recovery expands it.
Where are you right now?
Tap anywhere on the diagram to mark where you are right now
Trauma responds to specific, tested approaches. These are the ones with the strongest evidence base.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Somatic Experiencing
Body-based trauma therapy developed by Peter Levine
CPT
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Seeking Safety
Integrated trauma and substance use treatment
TF-CBT
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Writing creates distance between you and your experience — just enough to see it more clearly.
Move at your own pace. You do not have to answer anything you are not ready for.
What safety feels like
›My safe people
›Building my container
›Right now, I am safe because...
›My body and safety
›The inner critic is often the loudest voice in early recovery. These practices offer a different one.
If You Need Help Now
Free, confidential, 24/7
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988
RAINN Sexual Assault Hotline
1-800-656-4673
Veterans Crisis Line
988 then press 1
Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741
You have survived everything that has happened to you so far. That matters. Help is here when you need it.