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So. So. Sad.
By Cassandra Rose — Written on Jul 20, 2020
When an individual goes through something that is traumatizing, thinking clearly isn't always an option. Most days, you aren't even in control of your own body, nor are you cognizant of making good choices.
You eventually become a stranger to yourself. It can almost feel as if you are on the outside looking in, seeing yourself as a different body entirely.
And watching someone you love go through a traumatic incident can be just as ugly as suffering yourself. The guilt can take over your entire life to the point where you just can't see up from down.
But no matter how hard that you try to help them, they just can't seem to break clean from their depression.
Sometimes, those feelings of doubt and shame start getting to you, and end up leaving you right back to where you started, in a bad place with seemingly no way out.
Unfortunately, escaping from trauma is never easy. And, according to some depressing research, it can also have another major effect on someone's life.
A 2010 study found a link between people who experienced something traumatic in their childhoods and having an addiction later in life.
Of the almost 600 participants in the study, researchers found there to be an overwhelming percentage of those with a lifetime dependence on some kind of substance, either alcohol or a drug.
The participants' substance abuse problems were strongly connected to various types of trauma that they had experienced in their childhoods. Therefore, the study concluded that childhood traumas and addiction are strongly linked to each other.
Another big study had discovered very similar findings.
The research, which was conducted between 1995 to 1997 and called the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, examined the life of over 17,000 people to see whether or not they've ever experienced something traumatic, and how it affected them.
The results were staggering.
The fact that there's a 4,600 percent chance that someone can become prey to having an addiction actually exists is so unbelievably heartbreaking.
The study said that a person who experienced any of the categories of childhood trauma, Dr. Felitti revealed to YourTango, “was 4,600 percent more likely to become an IV [injecting] drug user later in life than a person who experienced none of them."
The six childhood traumas include neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, rape, school violence, and medical trauma.
If you grow up without a support system, it can be that much easier to turn to life-threatening substances, such as drugs or alcohol, to cope. This research leaves a big lump in our throats.
If you think you have a drug/alcohol problem or dependency, or even if you aren't sure, get in contact with a doctor or other health care professional.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted in June 2015 and was updated with the latest information.
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Cassandra Rose is a love and entertainment writer.