posted October 26, 2012 11:18 PM            

Maybe it will help someone you know.

Trauma and Addiction: Ending the Cycle of Pain Through Emotional Literacy
by Tian Dayton

For the past decade, author Tian Dayton has been researching trauma and addiction, and how psychodrama (or sociometry group psychotherapy) can be used in their treatment. Since trauma responses are stored in the body, a method of therapy that engages the body through role play can be more effective in accessing the full complement of trauma-related memories.
This latest book identifies the interconnection of trauma and addictive behavior, and shows why they can become an unending cycle. Emotional and psychological pain so often lead to self-medicating, which leads to more pain, and inevitably more self-medicating, and so on--ad infinitum. This groundbreaking book offers readers effective ways to work through their traumas in order to heal their addictions and their predilection toward what clinicians call self-medicating (the abuse of substances [alcohol, drugs, food], activities [work, sex, gambling, etc.] and/or possessions [money, material things].) Readers caught up in the endless cycle of trauma and addiction will permanently transform their lives by reading this book.

Therapists treating patients for whom no other avenue of therapy has proved effective will find that this book offers practical, lasting solutions. Case studies and examples of this behavioral phenomenon will illustrate the connection, helping readers understand its dynamics, recognize their own situations and realize that they are not alone in experiencing this syndrome. The author deftly combines the longstanding trauma theories of Van der Kolk, Herman, Bowlby, Krystal and others with her own experiential methods using psychodrama, sociometry and group therapy in the treatment of addiction and posttraumatic stress disorder. While designed to be useful to therapists, this book will also be accessible to trade readers. It includes comprehensive references, as well as a complete index.

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TIAN DAYTON, Ph.D., T.E.P., is a therapist in private practice in New York City. In addition to her doctoral degree in clinical psychology, she also holds a master's degree in educational psychology. A fellow of the American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama and a faculty member of the Drama Therapy Department at New York University, Dayton presents psychodrama workshops and training nationally. She is also a practioner of psychodrama, sociometry and group therapy. In her own practice, she continually witnesses sociometry group therapy and psychodrama working most effectively in resolving issues of PTSD, reducing relapse and allowing addicts, adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs), and spouses an arena in which to confront their issues and work through them toward successful healing. She is the author of Heartwounds, The Soul's Companion, The Quiet Voice of the Soul, The Drama Within, Keeping Love Alive, Daily Affirmations for Forgiving and Moving On, and Daily Affirmations for Parents.

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great reviews too. (i havent finished the book yet, but am identifying with so much. i put it down for awhile, but it really; knocked my socks off....the parts i read. )
http://www.amazon.com/Trauma-Addiction-Through-Emotional-Literacy/dp/1558747516

I enjoyed Dayton's Heartwounds: The Impact of Unresolved Grief on Relationships so much that I immediately when to this book to read in more depth about the connection between trauma and addiction. Whatever one's addiction (alcohol, drugs, sex, shopping, gambling, frenetic activity, eating, workaholism, etc.), it is linked to trauma in one's life (whether childhood or adult). These addictions present themselves as solutions but they are actually symptoms of a deeper problem. Trauma-without effective coping strategies-creates emotional illiteracy. Rather than medicating the pain of the trauma through addictive substances or behavoirs, emotional literacy enables people to move through their trauma. Dayton suggests that we not only psychologically hold on to these traumas but also somatically so that when we experience renewed trauma our bodies as well as pysches react to the new trauma with all the power of the unresolved trauma in our past. This creates a need to medicate with whatever addiction has been our coping strategy. Part of the resolution to this need is to re-experience the trauma somatically as well as psychologically through psychodrama. This was an enlightening book to me.

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This book is a must for anyone wanting to understand addiction. There is a big link to trauma. A very good description on how trauma affects the brain and how putting it into words heals the brain. I loved the referrals to how 12 step programs play a very important role in healing trauma and addiction. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has the problem either in themselves or in a loved one.

The amazing thing about this book was that it was so in-depth and complete, that it might be considered a clinical analysis, but she manages to make it very readable and engaging anyway. I have read many other books on recovery (Bradshaw, Beattie, Melody, Gorski) but this one really has a way of getting down to brass tacks like none of the others. Reframing is one of the words you will see used quite frequently here, and it is the concept of going back to previous experiences and reliving them to change the way your brain records the associated emotions. While she never mentions it, this is one of the foundations of NLP work, which I strongly believe in.

My one complaint is the cover! It is pretty ugly. Why? An ugly cover creates a negative impression and will lower the odds of somone wanting to come back and continue reading the book. I hope they do a second edition and change that.

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I read this book thinking it was just going to be another book regarding addictions and rehab centers, etc. But after the first chapter "the connection between Trauma and addiction" I understood why it is so difficult for others to let go of their main addiction which sometimes is drugs sometimes food, sometimes shopping.

When I continued reading the book it makes it clear on how the family support and codependency can either help you or push you deeper into the claws of the addiction.

Also it explains clearly the issue of "body memories" that most of the addictive personalities have.

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If you have a family member who has problem with an addiction or consider yourself an addict, before reading any other book or taking any step toward rehabilitation, please read this one, it will change your way of seeing the problem and help you see the solution.

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Tian Dayton's book is a long overdue treatise on the results of trauma on the human psyche written for the average reader with good science behind it. Her book is different from other self help books in that it appeals both to the emotions (needed for change) and the intellect. Often on the journey to personal growth we forget one or the other. Dayton has not forgotten their importance. Judith S. Lavendar, MA