How to Heal from Addiction: A Talk with Trauma Therapist Roland Bal

I sat down for a chat with complex PTSD and trauma specialist Roland Bal about many different aspects of addiction, how it relates to trauma and how to heal.

He’s a seasoned practitioner who since the age of 22 has been using a variety of somatic approaches to help people heal their suffering, specifically complex PTSD and trauma.

You can check out his epic work here: https://rolandbal.com/.

We covered the following juicy topics:

• Trauma and addiction: how addiction is a symptom of trauma and how these emotional imprints from the past drive addiction

• Deepening recovery: the difference between managing addiction and addressing the deeper drivers of addiction

• The role of managing: how managing addiction has a role in starting to contain the addiction before starting to work on the deeper emotional issues

• What purpose does addiction serve: how addiction is a mode of dissociation that has helped you to survive and to cope

• Focus more on the driver than the behaviour: when you start to address and process the underlying emotions, addiction starts to lessen

• The two sides of addiction recovery: the difference between how ‘not to die’ and how to ‘live fully’

• National traits as trauma: how the emotional traits of different cultures and nationalities represent trauma responses fears

• Anger and addiction: the fear of dealing with anger and how processing anger can help with moving away from addiction

• The addiction mindset: the core principle of addiction and how we look for the next shot of dopamine everywhere

• The ubiquity of addiction: how everything can become an addiction and how society promotes addiction through entertainment

• Shame and addiction: the importance of dealing with the shame surrounding addiction