When a traumatic experience happens to us, it can overwhelm the system and sometimes, we are unable to process everything that happened to us. The primitive brain takes charge, and if we are unable to fight or flee the situation we are in, we shut down to survive. After a traumatic experience, our nervous system can sometimes cause us to lose track of what happened and make it difficult for us to recall the experience. The traumatic experience can be stored within our ‘implicit memory’ which can create extreme stress on the body and mind, this is often exhausting and can result in nightmare, flashbacks, irritability, anxiety, depression, phobias, and panic attacks amongst other symptoms. This often results in substance use as individuals struggle to manage the after effects of trauma, which can often lead to addiction.