Alcohol and Trauma

I chose to stop drinking alcohol on 5 July 2018 after years of self-medicating. I went through periods of being alcohol free but when the internal pain got too much I invariably drank again, and again. I’m proud of myself. At the same time I want to be transparent and acknowledge that (for me) giving up alcohol is hard. Most of my relationships have changed, some for the better, some for the worse. It would be way easier to have a couple of wines rather than deal with my trauma responses. It’s also true that being alcohol free brings moments of great joy.

I believe addiction is rooted in trauma so it can be very difficult to simply let go of behaviours we know damage our mental and physical health ie alcohol, sex, food, exercise, drugs etc. We are wired to avoid pain and addressing our addictions requires sitting with our pain. 

Different modalities like yoga, dance, nervous system regulation, mindset, brain training, NLP, somatic experiencing, meditation, EFT, breathwork, running, weightlifting, exercise, gut health, nutrition etc can be helpful. All can be potentially harmful, demoralising and isolating to those folks who experience/have experienced complex trauma, especially if they are delivered by practitioners who are not trauma informed. We experience the world with a different nervous system that has an altered perception of risk and safety FULL STOP.

If you feel it may be useful to change any of your behaviours go at your own pace and is it possible to be kind to yourself?