Читать книгу The Correlation Between Trauma and Addiction - Johanna O'Flaherty - Страница 5

Introduction

I was first exposed to both trauma and addiction in my family of origin, and this set the stage for my interest in the connection between them when I became a professional psychologist. The focus of this discussion is the connection between trauma and addiction, and how best to view and address these conditions when they co-occur in a treatment setting or clinical context.

Prior to working in inpatient treatment settings, I had the pleasure of managing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) for two major airlines, Pan American Airways (PAA) and Trans World Airlines (TWA). My first response to an aviation disaster was the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December of 1988 that killed 243 passengers, sixteen crew members, and eleven persons on the ground in the small Scottish village of Lockerbie. A team of airline employees were dispatched to London and Lockerbie to assist the grieving family members. In my role as Corporate Manager of PAA’s EAP, I was responsible for overseeing the bio-psycho-social-spiritual aspects of this disaster. As a result of that experience I became a different kind of pioneer in the aviation industry—organizing, training, and responding to aviation disasters, and facilitating trauma processing, grief counseling, and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing.

Subsequently, I was involved in the Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 disaster in which a Boeing 747 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York in July of 1996, just twelve minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport. All 230 people on board were killed in what was the third-deadliest aviation accident within US territory. Additionally, I had the honor of assisting airlines employees in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11.

In my professional capacity I consider myself a witness to the individual in treatment. For me, it’s an honor to walk with the patient on her or his journey of healing. Having long ago stepped into the river of healing myself, it is incredibly life-affirming to be able to accompany others on this amazing adventure of getting one’s life back.