Trauma in the childhood stories of people who have injected drugs

Abstract

Aim: To document childhood trauma in the life stories of people who have injected drugs. Method: Fifty-five participants (38 m, 17 f) recruited via Scottish recovery networks, who had injected drugs in the previous five years, were interviewed by peer researchers using the Life Story method. Results: Remembered childhood trauma included persistent violence, repeated sexual abuse, neglect and traumatic bereavements. Many traumas were related to adult alcohol use. Few participants told of no trauma, some of severe trauma contributing to subsequent drug problems, some recounted stories including traumatic events, but not linked to later drug problems. A few told of initial severe behavioural problems leading to trauma for the child and to drug problems. Drug problems followed trauma by various routes, without straightforward cause and effect: direct use of drugs as avoidant coping; juvenile heavy recreational use that escalated; forming relationships in mid to late teens with criminals. For men, this involved enmeshment in drug dealing, crime and prison. Some women formed relationships with men who injected drugs, who often introduced them to drugs, and some of whom were violently abusive. Heroin injecting was an effective means of blotting out distressing thoughts and feelings. Although, childhood stories also contained positive memories, factors that might have promoted resilience were rarely mentioned. Conclusions: Severe childhood trauma was common and gravitated people towards problem drug use via various pathways. Participants had often normalised the problems and did not remember adult help. Parental alcohol use contributed to trauma. Addiction services need to be more trauma minded. ARTICLE HISTORY

Community-based participatory research in a heavily researched inner city neighbourhood: Perspectives of people who use drugs on their experiences as peer researchers

“…As outlined elsewhere in the literature on peer research roles among PWUD (Hammersley & Dalgarno, 2013), participants believed that they were positioned to assist with the collection of more appropriate and accurate data.…”

Gender-based differences in injecting drug use by young adults who experienced maltreatment in childhood: Findings from an Australian birth cohort study

“…Males and females may also respond differently to their experiences of childhood maltreatment. In the case of males, the association may be through higher levels of antisocial behaviour (Shand et al, 2011), delinquency (Abajobir et al, 2017; Hammersley et al, 2016; Shand et al, 2011) and street crime (Ompad et al, 2005). By contrast, the pathway for females may be through commercial sex (Chambers, 2009; Ompad et al, 2005) or drug exchange (Ompad et al, 2005), as well as having different sexual orientations (e.g., more likely self-identified as lesbian or bisexual) or using so-called “gateway” drugs (non-injecting drug including cannabis) (Ompad et al, 2005).…”

“…By contrast, the pathway for females may be through commercial sex (Chambers, 2009; Ompad et al, 2005) or drug exchange (Ompad et al, 2005), as well as having different sexual orientations (e.g., more likely self-identified as lesbian or bisexual) or using so-called “gateway” drugs (non-injecting drug including cannabis) (Ompad et al, 2005). Moreover, females may have more exposure to a friend with injecting drug use disorder (Ompad et al, 2005), experience more violence victimization from their proximal partner (Hammersley et al, 2016; Shand et al, 2011) and have poorer relationship with parents, especially when parents also have a substance use disorder (Shand et al, 2011). However, the temporal sequence of some of these experiences is unclear and the exact mechanisms require further research.…”

“…However, such a gender effect may be modified by other confounders or covariates (DeBeck et al, 2013), with a number of studies reporting no gender differences in the association between childhood maltreatment and injecting drug use (Hadland et al, 2012; Kerr et al, 2009; Ompad et al, 2005). These include younger age (Ompad et al, 2005; Roy et al, 2003), poverty including homelessness (Roy et al, 2003), parental substance use and accompanying poor mental health (Hammersley et al, 2016; Kerr et al, 2009). …”

Stuffing down feelings: Bereavement, anxiety and emotional detachment in the life stories of people with eating disorders

“…Dan McAdams’ Life Story Interview (McAdams, ) was used as adapted by Hammersley et al, ) then adjusted to refer to EDs instead of drug injecting. This encourages systematic recall of key aspects of the person's life.…”