Traumatized Addicted Women: Treatment Issues

Whereas in “natural” trauma the victim, for instance, often has a reference group and faces a by and large sympathizing world, victims of “intentional” traumas are most often isolated and unacknowledged by this same world. Also, relationship and intimacy issues in this population are generally very pronounced. Beliefs about betrayal, guilt, distrust, shame, and other emotions as well as coping skills and defenses are largely formed early in life and the traumatized woman in adulthood often replays her earlier experiences in some self-damaging form based on these early beliefs and defenses. This is examined further in this chapter. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: < https://www.HaworthPress.com" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://www.HaworthPress.com > © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

“The problems we face today are not going to be corrected by the thinking that created them.”

—Albert Einstein

“The mind is its own place.”

—John Milton

256The trauma considered in this population in combination with drug abuse is generally sexual abuse, particularly incest or more formally, cumulative sexual trauma starting at some time in childhood, perpetuated by an abuser known to the girlchild and who is in some position of authority over her.

When considering incest, then, the picture is one of cumulative trauma, ongoing, not a particular event. Schiraldi (2000) distinguishes three forms of trauma, one of which is “intentional (man-made, malicious)” (p. 36), which sets this trauma apart from many other ones, but certainly not all. The relevance of separating “intentional” traumas from other forms of trauma, such as “natural” trauma, is the difference in approaches to treatment. Whereas in “natural” trauma the victim, for instance, often has a reference group and faces a by and large sympathizing world, victims of “intentional” traumas are most often isolated and unacknowledged by this same world. Also, relationship and intimacy issues in this population are generally very pronounced. Beliefs about betrayal, guilt, distrust, shame, and other emotions as well as coping skills and defenses are largely formed early in life and the traumatized woman in adulthood often replays her earlier experiences in some self-damaging form based on these early beliefs and defenses. This is examined further in this chapter.