Monday, November 13, 2006

Just A Thought....


The work that I do in the trauma field is unique. It was also noted by my boss that a study in 1995 demonstrated that non-traditional therapies are most effective with trauma over the traditional therapies. Therefore, I have a lot of freedoms to study, think, and try things to meet each client's needs. I love that part of my job. I also am currently developing a program for youth to help them 1. build a strong foundation of character traits; 2. overcome emotional traumas; and other goals which I will not go into. As part of it there will be, as planned, an increase in clientele to the clinic and an expansion of our clinic in general. Part of the expansion will be to develop a substance abuse program that is based on trauma resolution. The premise is that trauma treatment will be much more effective with substance abuse due to the nature of the drug and alcohol addiction. Trauma is a part of the drug community. As I'm sitting here thinking about it, the definition of trauma keeps going through my head. "Trauma is any event that causes you to feel helpless and terrified." That is the definition on our company brochure. The Webster's online dictionary states: b : a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury.
Is it actually possible that the very nature of substance abuse is trauma? The effects of substance abuse result in a disorderedmental, emotional, physical, behavioral, and social state of an individual. Is it possible that this is a new approach that could have new results in substance abuse treatment? I have not seen a treatment approach for substance abuse that is based on trauma resolution principles, yet. It will be interesting to see what happens as I work on this project. Until later...

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