Events The Chemistry of Drug Uses: Why Trauma Increases the Risks

When we are talking about drugs, we are talking about “external psychoactive chemicals,” i.e., substances (legal/illegal) we take into our bodies to change/alter our perceptions, moods, consciousness, cognition, and/or behavior. We usually take external chemicals because we are seeking relief from physical or psychological discomfort/distress/pain. Trauma throws us “off-balance” and into a state of discomfort/distress/pain, and we want relief immediately. If we do not have a pain-relieving habit - - something, we can do automatically without thinking about it – we are more likely to “take something” that gives us immediate relief. All psychoactive drugs - - whether acquired off the street or prescribed - - only work because they match one or more of our bodies' own nerve receptors for our own “internal psychoactive bio-chemicals” - - the chemicals we make inside our bodies. The problem is that most of us know nothing about our basic neurochemistry – our brain chemistry - - or that there are ways to increase our internal doses of our own psychoactive bio-chemicals, so we want/need less – or none - - of these external psychoactive chemicals. This is called practical science.

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