You feel it—that relentless pull toward certainty, control, or an overwhelming experience that makes you feel powerful or all-knowing. Maybe it’s chasing the perfect career, the next dopamine hit, or, more subtly, demanding that the government or a diagnostic manual give you an absolute, unquestionable truth.

At the Wounded Healers Institute (WHI), we know this pull isn’t random. It’s the ultimate expression of your trauma—and it’s deeply addictive.

The truth? That god-like state you crave is a chemically-induced survival response, and the pursuit of it is the definition of addiction as dissociation (ADM).

The God-Like State is a Survival Choice

Our bodies are wired for Ultimate Reality—the pure, neutral state of “reality-as-it-is.” When trauma hits, it creates a break in consciousness (dissociation) to survive the pain. Your body, acting as the psychological unconscious, immediately deploys its internal pharmacy:

• Opioids (EOS): They flood the system with numbing relief, creating a conditioned bond to the trauma-survival state. Trauma is addictive because the relief is predictable and absolute.
• Cannabinoids (ECS): They manage the emotional fallout, regulating and initiating the healing process (tear and repair).[1]

The “God-Like State” is the moment your unconscious self (the Emotional Part) assumes absolute control for survival, temporarily achieving the all-knowing certainty that the chaotic world denied you. This feels elemental, pure, and yes, divine—and the body is addicted to it because it equates that feeling with ultimate safety.

The Paradox: The Past is Present Today, So Today Must Be Present for the Past

You repeat painful patterns because the past is present today—unresolved trauma memory is active, forcing reenactments (like cravings or functional seizures) in your present life.[1]

But here is the new theological imperative we live by: Today Must Be Present for the Past.

Your present, grounded consciousness is the only force capable of resolving that old, time-locked memory. Healing is the moment you finally show up for the past self, using Memory Reconsolidation (MR) to rewrite the trauma blueprint. This is the moment you break the cycle.

When Government Becomes God, and Science Becomes the Church

Your addiction to the god-like state—the compulsion for absolute control and certainty—is mirrored by society.

• The Government as Religion: The State demands that you follow its rules, defining crime and punishment (sin and condemnation).
• Quantitative Science as the Church: Institutional science provides the dogma (the DSM, metric-driven laws) that justifies the State’s control. It’s a fear-based system that maintains the illusion of order by calling anything it can’t measure—like your deepest feelings, your functional seizures, or your Fading Memory Disorder—“pseudo” or “fake.”[1]

This creates Industrialized Comfort Conditioning—the collective societal addiction to external, predictable relief. You surrender your inner wisdom for the comfort of institutional authority. You trade sovereignty for predictability.

Finding God Honestly

How do you break this generational, addictive cycle and find a genuine connection to faith, purpose, or the absolute?

1. Acknowledge the Addiction to Control: If you demand absolute certainty, you are seeking the God-Like State and are functioning in a state of unresolved trauma.
2. Validate Doubt: If you or others doubt the quantitative system, know that doubt is not a weakness; it’s your body’s wisdom protesting the fear-based lie. It’s the Emotional Part saying, “This metric doesn’t feel true.”
3. Heal the Body: The only way to find “God” honestly is through integration. By engaging in trauma resolution (like MR/Dual Attention), you heal the dissociative split. You align your conscious mind with your body’s unconscious wisdom. This is the ultimate act of love—not the fearful control of the State, but the open, courageous acceptance of your whole, messy, divine self.

The path of the Wounded Healer teaches that the divine is not found externally in institutional certainty, but internally in the integrated, healed self.

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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.