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/

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Current understanding of the meaning crisis argues that contemporary Western society is facing a deepening and pervasive psychological distress. This is not merely an issue of individual failings but a widespread cultural phenomenon, manifested by an increasing sense of loneliness, incoherence, and insignificance, which directly fuels the rise in mental health issues like anxiety and depression.

This crisis traces this crisis back to a historical and cultural rupture: the erosion of the traditional "worldview" that once provided a deep, communal sense of connection, purpose, and wisdom. The ascent of the modern scientific, secular perspective has effectively undermined these traditional sources—such as religion and community—without successfully establishing systematic, communal, and scientifically grounded alternatives for the cultivation of meaning, wisdom, and self-transcendence.

https://www.jaymichaelson.net/

Brian Dean Williams is a meditation teacher, registered clinical counsellor, and approved clinical supervisor. With a background in activism and community organizing, he went to his first meditation retreat in 2002, and began engaging with Buddhism and eventually teaching. Brian has worked on the frontlines for 28 years with folks struggling with mental health, substance use, housing, and marginalization. Brian trained with Dave in LA as a meditation facilitator in the early 2010s. Brian's main modalities are narrative therapy and Buddhist psychology, although he also draws from other collaborative forms of counselling and community work. Brian lives on the Sunshine Coast in Canada (BC) with his wife and three kids, where he loves mountain biking, playing hockey / basketball, and singing with his community.

www.briandeanwilliams.com

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