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Growing Up with Alcoholic Parents: Understanding Trauma, Addiction, and the Path to Recovery
Description
11 million children in the U.S. are growing up with a parent with alcohol use disorder. Many will carry that trauma into adulthood—often repeating the same patterns. In this episode, we explore:
🧠 Why adult children of alcoholics are 4x more likely to develop their own AUD 🧠 The neurobiology of trauma: How early stress rewires the brain's stress response and reward systems
🧠 The PTSD-addiction connection: 50% of addiction treatment clients also have PTSD
🧠 Integrated treatment models that actually work
🧠 Evidence-based therapies and medications that support recovery
🧠 Practical steps for addressing inherited trauma
Featuring research on ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), HPA axis dysregulation, dopamine system changes, and clinical innovations in treating both conditions simultaneously.
References:
Childhood Trauma, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Alcohol Dependence
The Effects Of Growing Up With Alcoholic Parents
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Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter. Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas.
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