Dissociated chronic Addiction disorder When we have been trapped by addictions in situations over which we had little or no control

Dissociated chronic Addiction disorder When we have been trapped by addictions in situations over which we had little or no control at the beginning, middle or end, we carry an intense sense of dread even after that situation is removed. This is because we know how bad things can possibly be. And we know that it could possibly happen again. And we know that if it ever does happen again, it might be worse than before.

The degree of D.A.D addiction trauma cannot be defined purely in terms of the trauma that a person has experienced. It is important to understand that each person is different and has a different tolerance level to addiction trauma. Therefore, what one person may be able to shake off, another person may not. Therefore more or less exposure to trauma does not necessarily make the D.A.D any more or less severe.

D.A.D sufferers may "stuff" or suppress their emotional reaction to addictional traumatic events without resolution either because they believe each event by itself doesn't seem like such a big deal or because they see no satisfactory resolution opportunity available to them. This suppression of "emotional addictional baggage" can continue for a long time either until a "last straw" event occurs, or a safer emotional environment emerges and the damn begins to break.

The D.A.D describes how one layer after another of addictional trauma can interact with one another. Sometimes, it is mistakenly assumed that the most recent traumatic D.A.D event in a person's life is the one that brought them to their knees. However, just addressing that single most-recent event may possibly be an invalidating experience for the D.A.D sufferer. Therefore, it is important to recognise that those who suffer from D.A,D may be experiencing feelings from all their traumatic exposure, even as they try to address the most recent traumatic event.

This is what differentiates D.A.D from the classic D.I.D diagnosis - which typically describes an emotional response to a single or to a discrete number of traumatic events.