An effect of trauma

Addiction and what it has done to your life

Addiction is not a moral failure. It is what happens when a nervous system finds something that works to get through unbearable things, until it does not work anymore and starts taking instead of giving. This includes being in the middle of it, just recognizing it, and being in recovery while carrying what it cost you. The relationships, the years, the trust, the version of yourself that existed before. The shame of who you became inside it. All of that belongs here.

It can sound like

“I want to stop and I struggle to.” “I use it to get through the day.” “I am in recovery.” “I lost a lot to it.” “I got sober and everything I was numbing started to surface.”

If any of those sentences live in your head too, you are in good company here.

Experiences this often follows

Effects do not come from nowhere. These are some of the experiences that people who carry this one often describe. You do not need to have been through any of them for what you feel to be real.

Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.

You do not have to carry this alone.

Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.

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