5. Abnormal levels of stress lead to post-traumatic stress reactions

By Tom O'Connell

Last summer, as I listened to Dr. Lenore Terr discuss the long-term effects of childhood trauma at the Cape Cod Institute, I thought of the relevance of her remarks for recovering addicts of all kinds.

Terr, a clinical professor of psychiatry at University of California San Francisco Medical School, is the author of "Too Sacred to Cry" (Basic Books, 1992) and "Unchained Memories" (Basic Books, 1994). She has won prestigious awards for her work to further understanding of the impact of childhood trauma.

She told health practitioners at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's program that some adults can't stop reliving their early traumatic experiences. "It drives their lives." And adult children of alcoholics can attest to this. They are haunted by their early experiences of abandonment, neglect, and other kinds of abuse.

Terr said that these adults often feel "frozen," and that is what happens frequently to people recovering from addictions and the complications of having been raised in homes where the physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual climate was harmful. 

The post-traumatic stress reactions that Terr described are "a normal response to an abnormal situation." Yet recovering people often think their reactions to the wounds they have suffered make no sense. And they live with confusion whirling in their heads.

Describing people's emotional responses to such disasters as tornadoes, earthquakes, or floods, Dr. Terr said, "Everyone has to have a chance to talk, tell the story, and discuss how they experienced it." Although each person's experience has similarities and differences, it's important that their feelings be validated, and that their stories are responded to with empathy, she reported.

Recovering addicts of all kinds have much in common with survivors of childhood catastrophes, and they have a common bond with veterans of Desert Storm and Vietnam,  and others who have experienced abnormal stress and survived it.

When Dr. Terr reported on symptoms such as bad dreams, fears, physical effects such as shivering, loss of confidence in the future, and tales of heroism and overcoming, I thought of the millions of recovering addicts who have lived in family "battle zones" and have entered adult life without the kind of therapy given to survivors of other disasters.

Recovering addicts are likely to have frightening nightmares, fears and phobias,  physical discomforts, and a legacy of low self-esteem. Yet many have overcome much of the negative baggage that came to them in their early years or during their attempts to escape into addictive oblivion to gain relief from the pain of devastating memories.

In recovery from various addictions, people come together in groups, and slowly heal their wounds by telling the stories of their lives, describing their disasters, giving their impressions about the past, having their feelings validated, and receiving empathy from their listeners. This kind of healing is powerful, and meetings are vitally important.

Dr. Lenore stressed the need to tell and retell one's story. And that opportunity is provided for millions of people every day, in thousands of meetings of A.A., Al-Anon, Overeaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, and other Twelve Step mutual help groups. Meetings are more than just talk and socializing. They are powerful medicine.

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