Title : Addict's first memory: Revisiting relapse
Abstract:
The following research results spanned six months between 2019-2020 and included a population of 175 people addicted to some form of substance, from alcohol to heroin. One question was asked, and the answers were amazing and consistent. The following work is the detailed results of this writer’s answer to his own question and the 175 that followed. A constant pattern took shape throughout the bio-psycho-social assessments, these addicts had “first memories,” the memories were vivid and took place between the ages of three to six years old, almost to a person those first memories were traumatic. This writer’s personal search into his childhood was not to find an excuse for the way he became, but to explain the reason for becoming an addict. In order to treat addiction, these memories that have caused Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), must be recognized as the catalyst that sparked a predisposition. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), integrated with treatment specifically focused on PTSD, gives the addict a better chance at recovery sans relapse. This paper seeks to give the findings of first memories of the addicts assessed and provide the best treatment plan for such an addict, considering, the childhood trauma in congruency with treatment of the Substance Use Disorder (SUD). The question posed was, “What is your very first memory?”
