Families often ask me, in some variation, “Did the addiction start because of a depression or did the addiction create the depression?”  My experience and the experience of the treatment industry tell meboth are true.  But what seems to emerge more often than not is that there is some precipitating factor(s) that happened to an individual along the way (trauma, neglect, grief, and loss), that became fertile ground for an addiction or addictive tendencies to take hold.
When a vulnerable person makes the connection between a solution (relief from worry, fear or hurt) and a substance (drugs or compensatory behaviors, [e.g., shopping, sex, gambling, or eating]) an addict is often born.  The agony of being caught in an addictive, obsessive compulsive cycle causes many individuals to feel ashamed, hopeless, and helpless.