Trauma and Substance use Addiction Personal Essay
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Grand Canyon University *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
640
Subject
Arts Humanities
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
4
Uploaded by ChancellorIceStingray40
Trauma and Substance Use and Addiction Therapy Personal Reflection Essay
Taylor McLean
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Grand Canyon University
PCN-640: Specialization in Professional Counseling
Dr. Alice Crawford
December 20. 2023
1
2
Trauma and Substance Use and Addiction Therapy Personal Reflection Essay
Conceptualizing Problems and Solutions:
I will continuously stand by creating and providing a space for meeting clients where they are at. They have the capacity to make positive changes and ultimately know themselves best, even if that is not apparent to them. My supervisor shared with me that the brain does not care if we are happy, it is wired to keep us safe. This can look different for all individuals, it could be someone returning to an abusive relationship, engaging in risk taking behaviors, isolating, using substance. The brain and body remember how each of these experiences made them feel and with the familiarity, that created safety and thus individuals continue engaging in behaviors, even if they are harmful to them. Bessel A. van der Kolk said, as I often tell my students, the two most important phrases in therapy, as in yoga, are “Notice that” and “What happens next?” Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts (2014). A theory that can be used to conceptualize trauma and substance use is the adaptive information processing (AIP) theory. Which is when a distressing incident that could be stored in state-specific form (thoughts, feelings, sensations) and is unable to connect with other memory networks that hold adaptive information. So, people react inappropriately/dysfunctionally to situations because those events have not been stored appropriately and assimilated over time to adaptive networks. Gomez (2023) states:
The inclusion of parents and family caregivers throughout the phases of EMDR is essential for the best treatment outcome with highly traumatized and internally disorganized children. Parental responses that create dysregulation in the child’s system also appear to be related to the parent’s capacity to reflect, represent, and give meaning to
the child’s internal world…helping parents arrive at a deeper level of understanding of
3
their parental role using the adaptive information processing (AIP) model, attachment theory, regulation theory and interpersonal neurobiology principals will create a solid foundation (Abstract, 2023).
AIP theory provides the opportunity to address underlying causes of trauma and even substance abuse. Our brain processes distressing events in different ways whether it is with ease, or those events turn into memories that continue and end up being a traumatic experience for the individual. Hill (2020) discusses how our brain typically processes events through four elements:
sensory input, signal splitting, logical and emotional processing, and adaptive memory. Whereas trauma processing includes the first two elements of sensory input and signal splitting but misses
out on the logical procession leading to “lost” information and a maladaptive memory (p.5). Reflection of Conceptualization:
Individuals who experience trauma can often have co-occurring disorders such as substance use and addiction. working with these populations can be tricky at times because those
who experience trauma may turn to the use and abuse of substances to gain relief, even if temporary, from the symptoms or behaviors from their traumatic experiences. The use of AIP theory in working with trauma and substance use and addiction can allow for exploration of how one’s experience with trauma or substance use could have been stored improperly and how they have me adapting based on how their neural systems stored it. Another thing to consider when working with substance use and addiction could be harm reduction. This would allow the individual the grace to work on addressing their misuse without making them completely stop, at
least for the time being.
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
4
References:
Gomez, A. M. (2023, August 20). Working with parents and the family system: The AIP model and attachment theory
. Springer Publishing. https://connect.springerpub.com/content/book/978-0-8261-0698-8/chapter/ch05 Hill, M. D. (2020). Adaptive Information Processing Theory: Origins, Principles, Applications, and Evidence.
Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work (2640-8066)
,
17
(3), 317–331. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/26408066.2020.1748155
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the transformation of trauma
. Viking.