Drugs, Mental Illness, Generational Trauma & Incarceration: Breaking the Cycle
Is There a Connection Between Drugs, Mental Illness, Generational Trauma, and Incarceration? When we talk about incarceration, the conversation often stops at one word: crime. But if we really want to understand why so many people end up behind bars, return to jail or prison, struggle with addiction, lose family connections, or repeat painful patterns, we have to look deeper. There is often a connection between drugs, mental illness, generational trauma, poverty, family dysfunction, and incarceration. That does not mean every person who experiences trauma will use drugs. It does not mean every person with mental illness will commit a crime. And it does not mean people should not be held accountable for harm they caused. But it does mean we must stop pretending that incarceration happens in a vacuum. Many people entering the justice system are not just “bad people.” Many are wounded people, untreated people, unsupported people, addicted people, grieving people, abandoned people, a...
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