Trauma and Self-Medication

TL;DR: substance use and process addictions almost universally stem from a drive to help ourselves. Since the drive is to regulate a negative internal environment (whether it presents as pain, mood issues, fatigue, or inability to focus), we can remove the bad feelings by removing their external causes.

'Substances' are consumables that alter our inner state in some way. Coffee, food, cannabis, alcohol, cigarettes, buying things, and watching things can all be motivated by the drive to regulate our internal physiology. This regulation drive, which often comes out as a compulsion to consume, can even present with non-consumables -- as a tendency toward activities that alter our neurochemistry in other ways, which can be called "process addiction."

The drive to alter our inner state is often an instinctive way we try to distance ourselves from reality - and to alter this drive, each of us first has to reflect on our personal circumstances and how they may contribute to unhelpful habits.

The next step is to determine how best to soothe each hurt, fear, injustice; every instance of oppression, abandonment, and abuse. You'll have to take each lasting impression from the past, re-evaluate and re-mold it to the shape you want in life. (And this may be a painful, stop-and-go process.)

We have access to all the tools we may need in order to create a world we can accept, and if we're lucky, even enjoy living in. We just have to use them in a way that is MOST useful and LEAST harmful.

Opioids, for instance, fit neither of those bills. They just happen to be the solution that's most well-known and most accessible to the people who tend to need a solution most desperately. Cannabis, on the other hand, is known to have zero risk of overdose, to counter oxidative stress from multiple angles, and to aid neuroprotection and neuroplasticity. These are just two examples of common self-medication routes, though plenty more exist. Hopefully this juxtaposition between the two drugs, though, illustrates the importance of choosing your coping mechanisms carefully.

One thing to leave you with: whatever compels you in the quest to just feel better, you are NEVER "just an addict." Wanting to feel better about the world makes sense. Self-medication stems from awareness of and will to act against the Universe's uninvited assaults.

If you're facing challenges related to self-medication or self-soothing, please know that no substance, person, or activity will imprison you irreversibly - your current imprisonment relates to your rejecting a previous bad reality. Though it may take some recuperation and strengthening after your last battle, you have the power to reject this current negative reality as well.