What makes you vulnerable to addiction?

Growing up, like most folks I know, I just assumed that addiction was a mix of genetics and bad decisions. How far from the truth that was…

Over the past decade, after I got sober myself, I began to study addiction and what the current research and best practices are showing. I’ve been teaching addictions for a Master’s level counseling course for quite a few years, and my PhD dissertation revolved around the subject as well. All of that to say, addiction is complex, but probably not what you grew up learning. In this recent podcast I discuss how addictions come about in those who are made vulnerable to it through trauma, lack of secure attachment, and emotional dysregulation.

In the same way that someone may be made vulnerable to lung cancer due to environmental factors, that doesn’t mean that everyone who is exposed to those vulnerabilities will develop lung cancer, as well as some developing lung cancer who didn’t grow up being exposed to those vulnerabilities. Again, it’s complex. But in general, research shows that those three areas: trauma, insecure attachment, and emotional dysregulation- are consistently at the core of what creates a vulnerability to developing an addiction.

And if that’s the case, how we treat the addict and their addiction ought to reflect that reality. If we’re made vulnerable by trauma, then we need to treat the trauma; and if a lack of secure attachment is at the core of addiction, then safety and secure attachment are at the core of treatment; and if emotional dysregulation creates vulnerability, then learning how to regulate ones emotions is necessary for recovery.

There are a whole lot of resources on this, many of which you can find at my recommended reading resource, and local referrals on this website.

Addiction is awful. On the one hand you are absolutely powerless over it, while simultaneously you are completely responsible for it. That’s a tricky and terrifying place to be. If this is you or a loved one, reach out to a licensed and qualified counselor or treatment facility.