Health and Wellness Information:
Trauma, Addiction, and Alternative Medicines

Physical disease and mental health are on a continuum. Many western medical practitioners tend to treat physical and emotional illnesses and problems as if they are primarily separate concerns. This can be a convenient way of defining the issues, but the realities of healing and trauma recovery require recognize strong connections and interaction between body, mind, and emotions. This is why traditional western medical facilities are featuring integrative medicine programs.

Alternative medicine is uniquely suited to treating trauma and addiction survivors, because it brings about subtle psychological effects along with the physical healing it provides. Research done on detoxification ear acupuncture shows that acupuncture has a soothing effect on the system through the release of neurotransmitters in the brain and results in relief from physical and psychological symptoms of substance withdrawal in early, middle and late stage recovery.

In short, it helps bring about a relaxed and peaceful physical, emotional and mental state that can lead to lasting behavioral changes and enable clients to remain in trauma and drug recovery treatment. Since it is a non-verbal treatment with no disclosure required, it is a complementary service to SAGE's talk therapy and group work.

In survivor-centered treatment, work in various forms (including but not limited to acupuncture) can often help reduce the transference and confrontational relationships that so often occur for trauma survivors in relationships, including therapeutic relationships.

PTSD/Complex PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) resulting from trauma, addiction and chronic disease syndromes requires both physical and psychological treatment. At the SAGE Project we offer a wide variety of physical and psychological treatments from conventional therapy to peer counselors and traditional medical care to alternative medicine.

Other resources for further study include:

• Treating Addicted Survivors of Trauma, by Katie Evans, Michael J. Sullivan. Guilford Press. 1994.
  


• Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences, by Peter A. Levine, Ann Frederick. North Atlantic Books. 1997
  


• Crash Course: A Self-Healing Guide to Auto Accident Trauma and Recovery by Laurence S. Heller, Diane Pool Heller, Peter Levine. North Atlantic Books. 2001
  


• The Complete Book of of Chinese Health and Healing: Guarding the Three Treasures, by Daniel Reid, Dexter Chou, Jony Huang. Random House. 1995.