The Hungry Ghost: Trauma, Addiction, and the Quest to Fill the Void

"The question is never ‘Why the addiction?’ but ‘Why the pain?’”

In the modern world, addiction is often seen as a personal failure, a moral weakness, or a genetic misfortune. We stigmatize the addict while ignoring the deeper wounds that lie beneath the surface. But after decades of speaking with people on society’s margins—those living with substance use, mental illness, and unimaginable histories of trauma—I’ve come to a conclusion that runs contrary to mainstream understanding: addiction is not the problem. It is the attempted solution to a problem we are not addressing. It's something that I myself have also struggled with when I found myself navigating the thoughts of an alcohol addled mind while in the throes of a binge session.

Addiction: A Response to Suffering

Whether it’s heroin, alcohol, food, gambling, work, or the compulsive checking of our phones—addiction is always a response to emotional pain. It arises from a wound in the psyche, often inflicted early in life and reinforced by a culture that leaves us disconnected from our emotions, our bodies, each other, and our own essence. The tragedy for most people is avoiding or lacking the time for vital introspection.

We must see the lost, wounded child in the addict. No infant is born with the desire to self-destruct. Addiction begins as an attempt to soothe pain, a rupture of innocence we all are blessed with, to escape unbearable feelings of loneliness, fear, shame, or rejection. The drug, the behaviour, or the object of fixation provides temporary relief. It fills a void—but only for a moment. That void, however, is not a character flaw. It is the legacy of trauma.

Understanding Trauma

When people hear the word “trauma,” they often think of war, sexual abuse, or physical violence. These are real and devastating, of course—but trauma is not just what happens to us. Trauma is what happens inside us as a result of what happens to us. It is not a matter of comparisons. Trauma are events that - over time - become an obstacle to our development as human beings. Trauma instils an intractable defeatist attitude in one's self.

Trauma is the disconnection from the self. It is the internal adaptation we make to survive in environments where our emotional needs were not met. A child who grows up not feeling safe, seen, or loved learns to numb their pain, suppress their feelings, or become hypervigilant to others’ moods. These adaptations help the child survive—but later in life, they become sources of suffering.

Addiction is one such adaptation.

The Biology of Disconnection

Addiction hijacks the brain’s reward systems. Substances like opioids, alcohol, and cocaine affect neurotransmitters such as dopamine and endorphins—chemicals that are intimately involved in feelings of pleasure, motivation, and connection. What many people don’t realize is that people with severe addictions often have impaired neurochemical systems due to early trauma.

When emotional pain is chronic and unrelieved, the brain’s capacity to regulate mood, manage stress, and feel joy is compromised. The substance becomes a stand-in for what the person never received: soothing, presence, love.

So we must ask not, “Why is this person addicted?” but rather, “What pain is this person carrying?” What did they not receive that every child needs? Can we help them create that safe space or at least lead them to the crucial knowledge regarding the source of their addiction.

A Compassionate Approach to Healing

Healing from addiction is not about willpower. It’s not about judgment, punishment, or coercion. It’s about compassionate inquiry—a gentle exploration of what drives the compulsive behaviour, what unmet need it tries to address, and what past wounds it may be trying to conceal.

Sadly, this takes time, for some even a lifetime and for those just making ends meet while juggling the curveballs of life, it is always the failure of consistency or the lack luxury of time and money that prevents them from ever truly getting started. Everyone is aware of the cliched image of the well to do middle class articulate individual whose status as such allows them the time they need engage in that dialogue with the self.

Recovery becomes possible when a person begins to reconnect—with their emotions, their body, and their inner truth. And that is only possible in an environment of safety, empathy, and authenticity.

One of the tragedies of our society is that we treat addiction as a crime rather than a cry. We punish the symptom while ignoring the cause. If we want to create a world in which fewer people need to numb themselves to survive, we must become trauma-informed at every level—medicine, education, criminal justice, and most importantly, in our personal relationships.

The Way Forward

If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, I invite you not to look for faults but for wounds. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with you?” ask, “What happened to you?” And then listen—not just with your ears, but with your heart.

I’ve met countless people the world discarded—people addicted to substances, labelled as hopeless, marginalized, imprisoned. And yet, in every one of them, I’ve seen a spark: a yearning for connection, a longing for love, a human being seeking to come home.

Addiction is not the end of the story. It’s the signpost that healing is needed. And healing is always possible.