Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

There is an ongoing active and necessary debate in the literature related to the relationship between substance use disorders (SUDs) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Certainly, a link between the two has been established with some confidence, but a strict cause-and-effect association has not been established due to the lack of controlled studies. However, several quasi-experimental studies have been published that suggest a strong correlation between SUDs and PTSD. Indeed, some authors suggest that over half of those individuals seeking counseling for a SUD have experienced some level of traumatic exposure in their past, and upwards of three quarters of female addicts seeking counseling can be identified as having had serious traumatic exposures in their pasts.