It’s important to deal with PTSD and addiction at the same time. Any attempts to address one while ignoring the other may result in limited success. Since mental health issues and addiction often feed off one another, they may be thought of as different parts of the same problem. Addiction treatment programs often have therapies specifically designed to address past traumas. There are also some therapies that can be useful in treating PTSD and addiction.One of the latter is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is a behavioral therapy that can be used to treat various mental health and behavioral conditions. It involves a close look at the learning processes that contribute to behaviors like repeated substance misuse. In CBT, you’ll learn to identify triggers and high-risk scenarios that may cause cravings or PTSD symptoms. You’ll also learn effective coping responses that can help you handle high-risk situations without panic or using drugs. CBT is often instrumental in relapse prevention planning.Exposure therapy, a common method of dealing with trauma, shares some similarities with behavioral therapies. Exposure therapy involves making a list of fears from least to most distressing and working through the list slowly, developing coping skills to deal with them.For past traumas, this may involve talk therapy, going through common triggers, or visiting places you avoided. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy involves a similar concept of talking through traumatic experiences, but it also involves desensitizing you to triggers with the help of a stimulus that draws your focus during therapy sessions, like following an object that’s moving back and forth with your eyes.