Childhood trauma and mental health are intimately connected. Trauma can also contribute to substance use disorders. At Bayview Recovery, we understand that substance abuse treatment has to address underlying factors to give our clients the best chance for long-term recovery. At our treatment center, we strive to help each person work through the trauma and mental health condition that’s led to addiction. Giving you the tools to manage your mental health, trauma, and addiction successfully can also provide you with the confidence and ability to control your life again. If you’re ready to take that first step, contact the experts at Bayview Recovery by calling 855.478.3650 today.

Childhood Trauma and Mental Health

A child who has battled the effects of trauma has significant fears for their safety. They may have experienced pain, witnessed violence or tragedy, or gone through events that scar them mentally. Whereas one person may process these events regularly, another may bury them deep in their subconscious. Unfortunately, these feelings often come back to make adult living painful. When you cannot process painful memories, your brain finds ways to avoid them, leading to mental health disorders.

Sometimes, childhood trauma leads to post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD negatively impacts emotions, relationships, behavior, and health. Those with PTSD often go through one or more of the following steps:

  • Sleep disturbances
  • Nightmares
  • Anxiety and depression
  • Flashbacks
  • Dissociative episodes

Feelings of fear, pain, shame, and anxiety cause some clients to harm themselves or self-medicate with alcohol or drug use. Using substances to self-medicate can lead to addiction, which opens the individual up to other traumatic experiences.

Childhood Trauma and Addiction

Childhood trauma and mental health issues that go untreated can lead to addiction. The reasons connecting childhood trauma have many layers that vary from individual to individual. During your intake process, we gather as much information as possible about your medical history, including childhood trauma and mental health issues impacting your drug and alcohol use.

Whether your childhood fear has manifested as depression, anxiety, loneliness, or anger, we can help you learn to process your emotions in healthy ways. In our dual diagnosis treatment program, we address the childhood trauma and mental health disorders that caused you to turn to drugs in the first place.

Break the Cycle

Sadly, abusing drugs and alcohol makes you more vulnerable to trauma and mental health disorders. To break this vicious cycle, seek help to get clean and stay clean at Bayview Recovery today. Our dialectical behavioral therapy program teaches you to accept and process negative feelings about your childhood trauma and mental illness. Mindfulness meditation helps you manage anger and stress to avoid triggering a relapse.

Co-occurring Disorder Treatment

For clients facing addiction to one or two substances and co-occurring mental health disorders, we create an individualized care plan to facilitate a full recovery. If you suffer from anxiety, PTSD, or depression and also have an alcohol use disorder, we treat both these conditions simultaneously. Otherwise, you may continue to struggle with mental health issues and become more vulnerable to relapse.

Childhood Trauma and Mental Health Treatment in Tacoma, WA

You don’t have to live with addiction, childhood trauma, and mental health problems anymore. With our dual diagnosis treatment programs, you can gain the tools you need to recover from all of these conditions successfully. Our treatment programs at Bayview Recovery include the following:

Call Bayview Recovery today at 855.478.3650 to learn more about recovery programs that can change your life, freeing you from years or decades of childhood traumatic and mental health concerns. The future is now.


Bayview Recovery Center is located in Tacoma, Washington and specializes in substance abuse addiction and co-occurring disorders. Specialists at Bayview recovery are equipped with years of experience navigating adult men and women to sobriety and giving them the tools to maintain it. Backed with a comprehensive set of treatment offerings for individualized care, Bayview has a commitment to fighting addiction. Learn more about Bayview Recovery here.