A significant portion of overdose deaths may stem from addiction rooted in trauma, where individuals use substances to soothe internal pain.

“If you think about a hundred thousand overdose deaths in this country in a year, 100,000, I mean where is a, so much of that arising from is a person who's treated addiction very intensively over many years. I think that, well, I feel sure that the majority of addiction that I see and treat arises, ultimately the roots of it are in trauma and are in trying to soothe something that's stuck inside that the person isn't letting outside because of the guilt and shame, but it's running around in their head and tormented by it.”