Trauma and Drinking: When Alcohol Becomes the Way You Cope
Updated: Nov 13
People rarely start drinking heavily for no reason. When we sit down with someone and ask what alcohol has been doing for them, the answers are often similar:
"It's the only thing that stops the memories." "I can't sleep without it." "It makes me feel safe around people." "It turns my brain off."
Underneath many of those answers is trauma. Sometimes it's one event. More often it's something that went on for a long time, often starting in childhood. And for many people, drinking began as the most effective way they'd found to survive it.
How strong is the link?
Very strong. One of the most important studies on this, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, looked at more than 17,000 adults in the US. It found that people who'd experienced more types of childhood adversity, such as abuse, neglect, or growing up with violence, addiction or mental illness at home, had a much higher risk of alcohol and drug problems later in life. People with four or more adverse experiences had several times the risk of those with none.
More recent research reviewed by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that over 30% of adults with a substance use disorder experienced childhood trauma such as emotional abuse or neglect.
So if trauma and drinking are both part of your story, you're far from alone.
Why trauma and alcohol go together
Trauma keeps the alarm on
After trauma, the nervous system often stays on high alert. Your body keeps scanning for danger even when you're safe. That can show up as anxiety, irritability, poor sleep, being easily startled, or feeling numb and cut off.
Alcohol is a fast, reliable way to turn that alarm down, for a few hours.
Memories and feelings
Flashbacks, nightmares and intrusive memories are exhausting. So are the feelings that come with trauma: shame, fear, anger, grief. Drinking can push them away, or at least blur them.
Sleep
Sleep problems are one of the most common effects of trauma, and one of the most common reasons people start drinking at night.
Feeling safe around others
Many people who've been through trauma feel on guard in social situations. Alcohol can lower that guard enough to feel connected, at least while you're drinking.
Why alcohol keeps trauma stuck
Here's the hard part. The things alcohol does in the short term work against healing in the long term.
- It makes the alarm system more sensitive. As alcohol wears off, anxiety and agitation rebound, so you feel more on edge than before.
- It disrupts sleep, especially the deep and dreaming stages that help the brain process difficult experiences.
- It blocks emotional processing. Feelings that are numbed don't get worked through. They wait.
- It raises risk. Drinking increases the chances of conflict, accidents, risky situations and, for some people, further trauma.
- It adds shame. Many people end up feeling ashamed of their drinking on top of everything else.
Over time, it can become a loop: trauma symptoms lead to drinking, drinking makes the symptoms worse, which leads to more drinking.
Why treating them separately often fails
For a long time, many services treated trauma and addiction one at a time. Get sober first, then deal with the trauma. Or deal with the trauma, then the drinking will sort itself out.
For a lot of people, that doesn't work. Take away the alcohol without addressing the trauma, and the memories, panic and sleeplessness come roaring back with nothing to manage them. Try to process trauma while drinking heavily, and the work doesn't stick.
Research reviewed by NIDA supports treating co-occurring conditions together, and has found integrated treatment leads to better outcomes.
What helps
Safety first. Before going into painful memories, the priority is stability: stopping or reducing drinking safely, sleeping better, feeling safe in your environment and having some tools for big feelings.
Safe withdrawal if needed. If you've been drinking heavily every day, stopping suddenly can be dangerous. Talk to a doctor first.
Skills for the hard moments. Grounding, breathing and practical skills from approaches like DBT give you something to reach for other than a drink.
Trauma-focused therapy, when you're ready. Therapies with good evidence include trauma-focused CBT, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure and EMDR. They help the brain file traumatic memories away so they stop feeling like they're happening now.
Work with the body. Breathwork, movement, yoga and time in nature help many people feel safer in their own skin.
A plan for the future. Relapse prevention that covers trauma triggers, not just pubs and parties.
How we work with trauma and drinking at Holistic Recovery Bali
This combination is at the heart of what we do. Deep-rooted trauma is one of the areas where HRB is different from many rehabs. We don't treat it as something to look at "later". We treat it alongside the drinking, from day one.
Because we work with one client, or one couple, at a time, we can go at your pace. We understand that giving up drinking can feel like giving up your only protection, and we hold space for what comes up when you do. The first weeks focus on safety and stability: safe withdrawal where needed, overseen by our psychiatrist, Dr I Gusti Rai, plus rest, routine, good food and 9D Breathwork to calm your nervous system. From there, one-to-one counselling with our team, including David Elsey, who works with trauma and body-centred therapy, helps you work through what's underneath. You leave with a plan that covers your trauma triggers as well as your drinking.
If you'd like to talk, the first call is free and confidential.
Trauma therapy in Bali · Alcohol rehab in Bali · WhatsApp +62 811 3880 4006 · Australia toll-free 1800 329 014
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you drink heavily every day, please talk to a doctor before stopping suddenly. If you're in crisis, call 000 (Australia), 112 (Indonesia) or Lifeline 13 11 14.
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