Your addiction is not necessarily rooted in abuse or trauma, but lets make sure..

“Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experience. A hurt is at the centre of all addictive behaviours. It is present in the gambler, the Internet addict, the compulsive shopper and the workaholic. The wound may not be as deep and the ache not as excruciating, and it may even be entirely hidden—but it’s there. As we’ll see, the effects of early stress or adverse experiences directly shape both the psychology and the neurobiology of addiction in the brain.”
― Gabor Maté, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

Part of the way we will work together is to ensure you hidden wounds are not tripping you up. Mindfulness, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy and Brainspotting is very effective for this.

You won’t be blamed or shamed for your addiction

Most addicts I have talked to report a similar experience. They did not start using drugs for any reason they can remember. They just drifted along until they got hooked. If you have never been addicted, you can have no clear idea what it means to need junk with the addict’s special need. You don’t decide to be an addict. One morning you wake up sick and you’re an addict. (Junky, Prologue, p. xxxviii)”
― William S. Burroughs, Junky

How do you know you are addicted?

“Even when I took the drugs I realized that this just wasn’t fun anymore. The drugs had become a part of my routine. Something to wake me up. Something to help me sleep. Something to calm my nerves. There was a time when I was able to wake up, go to sleep, and have fun without a pill or a line to help me function. These days it felt like I might have a nervous breakdown if I didn’t have them.”
― Cherie Currie

“If you are an approval addict, your behaviour is as easy to control as that of any other junkie. All a manipulator need do is a simple two-step process: Give you what you crave, and then threaten to take it away. Every drug dealer in the world plays this game.”
― Harriet B. Braiker, Who’s Pulling Your Strings? How to Break the Cycle of Manipulation and Regain Control of Your Life

“When you can stop you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t…”
― Luke Davies, Candy

“You’ve recognised a fundamental feature of an addict’s life. Maintaining your habit is so important you’ve no real interest in anything else.”
― Marian Keyes, Rachel’s Holiday

What does addiction look like?

“Imagine trying to live without air.
Now imagine something worse.”
― Amy Reed, Clean

What really causes addiction

A eye-opening commentary including how we as a society may overcome it