The Cult of Trauma: Evaluating Negative Impacts on Addiction Treatment Efficacy

Currently, there is a trend in addiction treatment services to view recovery as unobtainable without first ‘resolving trauma’. Definitions of trauma are vague, poorly defined, and often trivial. This practice flies in the face of traditional recovery wisdom which sees recovery as possible despite ongoing mental health issues, and that such issues should be treated sequentially, not concurrently. In this debate, Dave and Alastair discuss possible motivations for this growing trend, including commercial self-interest on the part of treatment providers and therapists. Theories of ‘trauma’ being biologically embedded and treatable via a range of ‘somatic’ therapies are also critiqued.

Alastair Mordey is one of the world’s premier addiction treatment specialists. Alastair has founded some of the world’s largest treatment centres, and is recognized as one of the pioneers of Thailand’s thriving addiction treatment industry. Alastair founded the first rehab in the world to use Thai boxing training regimens to help young men overcome their addictions. To date he has overseen the treatment of more than 6,000 addicted people and continues to pioneer cutting edge treatment methods in behavioral health and addiction recovery for people all over the world. https://onesteprehab.com/