The Science of Self-Medication: Trauma, PTSD & Substance Use After Abuse

If you've been living in a high-conflict divorce or custody battle, you probably know that feeling all too well — the exhaustion that never quite leaves, the hypervigilance, the sense that your nervous system has forgotten how to relax. And for many people in these situations, a glass of wine at the end of the day has quietly become two, or three, or something stronger. Not because of weakness. Because of science.

In this episode, Lisa sits down with Dr. Christal Badour, a licensed clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Kentucky, where she runs a research lab focused on trauma recovery and the intersection of PTSD and substance use disorders. Dr. Badour's work is dedicated to understanding why trauma and substance use co-occur so frequently — and more importantly, how to help people break that cycle.

What you'll learn in this conversation will likely change the way you see yourself.

📌 WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE

Dr. Badour opens by challenging one of the most persistent misconceptions in our space — the idea that trauma means a single catastrophic event. For people experiencing legal abuse, coercive control, and ongoing post-separation conflict, the damage often looks different: a chronic, lower-level activation of the stress response that erodes you over time. It's not a capital-T Trauma, but it creates many of the same consequences.

From there, Lisa and Dr. Badour explore the self-medication hypothesis — the well-researched mechanism by which people dealing with painful experiences reach for substances to quiet their nervous systems. If you've ever needed something to take the edge off just to get through the day, this conversation is for you. Dr. Badour explains this not as a character flaw, but as a neurological response to overwhelming stress.

The conversation takes a hopeful turn when Dr. Badour explains that you don't have to wait until the legal process is over to begin healing. Emerging research — much of it developed in military settings — shows that trauma treatment can actually begin even while the threat is still present. This is enormously important for BTGO listeners who are still in the middle of custody battles, still receiving hostile texts, still dreading the next court date.

You'll also hear a moving story about one of Dr. Badour's clients — a woman who hadn't worn shorts in years because of the shame she carried from a sexual assault. The moment she walked into a therapy session in shorts? A powerful reminder of what real recovery looks like.

🕐 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction — The Connection Between Trauma and Substance Use
01:45 Meet Dr. Christal Badour — Psychologist, Researcher, University of Kentucky
03:20 What Mental Health Professionals Mean by "Trauma" vs. What We Mean Everyday
06:10 Chronic Stress vs. Single-Incident Trauma — Why Ongoing Abuse Creates the Same Damage
09:30 Legal Abuse and the Nervous System — When the Threat Never Ends
12:00 Can You Start Healing Before You're Safe? What the Research Now Shows
15:40 The Self-Medication Hypothesis — Why Substances "Work" in the Short Term
20:15 Why Avoidance Feels Like Relief but Blocks Long-Term Recovery
23:30 How Substance Use Interferes With the Brain's Natural Processing of Trauma
27:00 Evidence-Based Treatment Approaches: Skills-Based vs. Trauma-Focused Therapy
31:50 EMDR, Written Exposure, and Approaches That Don't Require Talking About It
35:20 Animal-Assisted Therapy, Equine Therapy, and Complementary Approaches
38:40 Why Joy and Connection Are Also Part of Healing (Not Just Symptom Reduction)
41:10 AA, NA, Harm Reduction, and Choosing the Right Door for Where You Are
44:30 How to Support a Loved One Who Is Struggling
48:00 Success Stories — When the Shame Finally Lifts
51:00 Where to Find Dr. Badour | scienceforsurvivors.com