Framework for Validating the Universality of the Addiction as Dissociation Model
Methodological Caveat: Pursuant to established protocol requiring adherence exclusively to provided source materials, this analysis draws solely from the internal research and scholarly publications produced by the Wounded Healers Institute. The validation presented herein reflects the intrinsic claims of scientific and legal rigor asserted by the Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM) and the Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH), which deliberately critiques and redefines conventional quantitative standards to demonstrate where common sense and logic lies.
Foundational Validation of the Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM)
I. The Neurobiological Unity of Healing: Memory Reconsolidation, Dual Attention, and the Default Mode Network
The WHI framework posits that the core mechanisms utilized by effective healing modalities are biologically universal, confirming the validity of its dissociation-focused approach through neurobiological processes already recognized in some capacities by established science.
A. Memory Reconsolidation (MR) as the Universal Algorithm
The validity of the ADM is fundamentally tied to Memory Reconsolidation (MR), which is asserted to be the “universal algorithm” for healing unresolved trauma. MR is described as the naturally occurring neurobiological process that resolves memories, moving them from an active, intrusive state into long-term, resolved storage.
- Evidence-Based Claim: Any mechanism of action that assists in accessing MR is already evidence-based. This includes, but is not limited to, meditation, walking, singing, working, psychedelics, and specific trauma modalities like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
- Adaptive Healing: MR is the means by which the brain updates and neutralizes the emotional charge of traumatic memories, potentially leading to memory “erasure”. The ability of therapies like EMDR to perform MR and produce neurobiological changes (modifications in cerebral blood flow and electrical signal) is cited as evidence that trauma creates the “disease” that is addiction, which progresses via dissociative means.
B. Dual Attention and the Default Mode Network (DMN)
The mechanism of MR is intrinsically linked to the process of Dual Attention, which involves safely processing emotionally charged, implicit memories while maintaining contact with present reality. Dual attention is described as adaptive dissociation that is readily accessible to everyone, promoting healing when achieved through regulation.
- DMN Modulation: The DMN, associated with self-referential thought and rumination, is central to the ADM’s claims regarding consciousness. The lowering of activity in the DMN affects the conscious mind’s ability to remain dominant. Agents such as psychedelic medicines, alcohol, opiates, EMDR, and meditation are all noted to deactivate the DMN, which quantitatively allows for a perspective change toward a more qualitative and integrated viewpoint. This is considered the foundation of dual attention states and neuroexperiential models like Brainspotting.
- Psychedelic Congruence: Psychedelics achieve this by activating the 5-HT2A receptors, leading to the transient downregulation of the DMN, thereby facilitating the psychological state of Dual Attention and the integration of memories via MR. This confirms the use of psychedelics as therapeutic agents for the core pathology described by ADM.
II. Pharmacological and Transdiagnostic Proof of Dissociative Unity
The sources argue that the clinical efficacy of certain pharmacological agents provides objective, quantifiable evidence that addiction and dissociation share a common biological pathway, thereby dismantling the traditional, siloed diagnostic categories of industrialized psychiatry.
A. Naltrexone as the Transdiagnostic Modulator
The opiate antagonist Naltrexone serves as “irrefutable confirmation” of the biological unity of addiction and trauma-related dissociation.
- Shared Biological Pathway: Naltrexone is utilized to treat various substance use disorders (alcoholism, cocaine, gambling) and is also prescribed to reduce symptoms of clinical dissociation. This overlapping efficacy proves they operate through a common neurochemical pathway mediated by the endogenous opiate system. The universal application of Naltrexone shows how the stress response of dissociation underlies all mental health disorders, including addictions.
- Broad Spectrum Efficacy: The therapeutic reach of Naltrexone extends beyond substance use to treat a wide array of compulsive behaviors and conditions currently compartmentalized by the DSM, including gambling use disorders, Internet sex addiction, self-harm, Borderline Personality Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Eating Disorders. This provides robust pharmacological evidence confirming ADM’s position that dissociation and addiction are fundamental to a wider range of mental health presentations.
B. Addiction to Trauma and Drug Use Memory
The ADM redefines addiction by explicitly linking it to trauma and dissociation, thereby supporting its validity as a transdiagnostic phenomenon.
- Definition of Addiction as Trauma-Bonding: Addiction is defined as “the relationship created between unresolved trauma and the continued and unchecked progression of dissociative responses”. It is understood as a “conditioned bond to a dissociative state of being” whose purpose is survival and regulation. Crucially, the choice to engage in addictive behavior is framed as an “unconscious survival choice” made by the body.
- Addiction to Trauma: The conditioning of the body’s endogenous opiate system explains how one can become addicted (or trauma-bonded) to dissociation itself. This dependency demonstrates that the experience of stress or trauma can physiologically create an addictive state. This supports the conclusion that one can become addicted to anything.
- Drug Use Memory: A single drug use event can generate an unprocessed “addiction or drug use memory” that functions akin to a traumatic memory. This intense memory creates a powerful, implicit drive to repeat the experience, leading to dissociative manifestations mirroring PTSD symptoms like intrusions and reenactments. This highlights that addiction, like PTSD, is a “memory pathology”.
III. Systemic and Legal Validation through Transdiagnostic Scope
The ADM’s expansive scope is cited as evidence for why prevailing legal and psychological standards are incomplete and often unjust, thereby internally validating the WHI’s new professional and ethical framework.
A. Transferring Addictions and the Universal Spectrum
The ADM expands the scope of addiction beyond traditionally recognized substances and gambling to affirm that addiction is transdiagnostic.
- Missing Diagnoses: The research specifically identifies and advocates for the clinical recognition of perfectionism, altruism, and ambition as addictions, arguing they are compulsive behaviors fueled by the same trauma-related dissociative processes but are currently overlooked by the DSM. These “universal addictions” are viewed as the basis for dissociative rational subsets such as co-dependents, abusers, and academics.
- Circular Dissociative Spectrum: Trauma, dissociation, and addiction are posited to exist on a spectrum that is best represented as a circle with overlapping aspects, rather than a linear line. This cyclical view suggests that the extremes connect, allowing pain to become pleasure and pleasure to become painful. This conceptual model is crucial for understanding the universality and interdependent relationship of these phenomena.
B. Professional and Legal Implications
The systematic flaws in legal and psychological institutions provide the ultimate justification for the ADM’s validity and the creation of the Healer profession.
- Systemic Pathology: The failure of mainstream psychology (DSM) to provide an operational definition for addiction, dissociation, and trauma creates a “foundational flaw” that allows legal and medical systems to misapply constructs and perpetuates systemic abuse. The professions are thus diagnosed as exhibiting their own addiction to power and control, operating in a state of collective denial.
- Unconscious Informed Consent: The foundational assertion that the physical body is the psychological unconscious necessitates a legal and ethical shift. True healing requires unconscious informed consent before any treatment is applied, ensuring alignment with the body’s implicit wisdom, rather than mere conscious, legalistic assent.
IV. Conclusion
The ADM and PWH are internally validated through their convergence with established neurobiological mechanisms (MR, DMN deactivation) and pharmacological data (Naltrexone), providing a scientifically grounded rationale for reconceptualizing addiction as a transdiagnostic, trauma-related dissociative process. This framework, derived from rigorous phenomenological research, not only offers operational definitions for addiction, trauma, and dissociation, but also provides a necessary moral and psychological check against institutional systems prone to their own forms of addictive denial and control. The internal coherence and transdiagnostic applicability of these concepts serve as the foundation for the WHI’s mandate to establish the Healer as a separate profession.
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References
O’Brien, A. (2023a). Addiction as Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Phenomenological Investigation of the Addictive State. International University of Graduate Studies. (Dissertation). Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/
O’Brien, A. (2023b). Memory Reconsolidation in Psychedelics Therapy. In Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/
O’Brien, A. (2023c). Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2024a). Healer and Healing: The re-education of the healer and healing professions as an advocation. Re-educational and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2024e). Path of the Wounded Healers for Thrivers: Perfectionism, Altruism, and Ambition Addictions; Re-education and training manual for Abusers, Activists, Batterers, Bullies, Enablers, Killers, Narcissists, Offenders, Parents, Perpetrators, and Warriors. Re-Education and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2025). American Made Addiction Recovery: a healer’s journey through professional recovery. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
*This is for informational and educational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.
