Sociopolitical Roots of Trauma Explored.

• Position: SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Early in her career, while working as a social worker serving children and adolescents, Laura Quiros observed that teenagers with substance abuse problems often relapsed despite her best efforts. Later, dealing with women who also were in recovery for substance abuse issues, she noticed a similar trend.

"The women would enter a treatment center for a time but, once they returned to the community, they relapsed. I realized I needed to better understand the environment in which their problems had first emerged," says Quiros, associate professor in the School of Social Work at Adelphi University, Garden City, N.Y.

The common thread was trauma. "Nearly everyone who is served by a public mental health or substance abuse program has experienced some sort of trauma. It is an underlying cause of their problems, but many treatment programs emphasize only addiction. Unless the trauma is addressed as part of treatment, chances of a successful outcome are significantly reduced.

"TIC [trauma informed care] is a rapidly evolving area of mental health treatment that is...