The roots of Addiction: Looking beyond behaviour
The roots of addiction lie beneath the visible behaviour. Addiction is often a way of coping with pain, shame, and unmet needs, frequently linked to past trauma. The Addiction Tree Model shows that lasting recovery comes from tending to these underlying roots, not just stopping the surface behaviour.
When we think about addiction, we tend to focus on what we can see: the drinking, the gambling, the endless scrolling, the overworking. These behaviours are visible, measurable, and often the focus of judgement, both from others and from ourselves. Yet the behaviour is rarely the whole story.
What if addiction was less about the substance or activity, and more about the pain it helps to soothe? This shift in understanding can change everything about how we approach recovery. Instead of asking "How do I stop this behaviour?", we can begin to ask a gentler, more revealing question: "What is this behaviour trying to do for me?"
What are the roots of addiction?
The roots of addiction are the deeper emotional and psychological experiences that drive compulsive behaviour. They are rarely about the substance or activity itself. Instead, addiction tends to grow from pain that feels intolerable, including loneliness, fear, grief, guilt, and most consistently of all, shame.
Addiction researcher and author Johann Hari put it memorably in his widely shared TED Talk: addiction is the opposite of connection. When healthy, supportive relationships are missing, people often reach for something that provides relief, even if only for a moment. The behaviour becomes a way of escaping what feels unbearable.
Shame deserves special attention here, because it sits at the heart of so many addictions. Shame is the quiet belief that there is something wrong with us, captured in thoughts like "I'm unlovable" or "I'm not important." Because shame feels so painful, we tend to hide it. And because we hide it, we struggle to reach out for the very support that could help us heal. A simple way to notice your own shame is to ask: "What is something I don't want anyone to ever know about me?"
The Addiction Tree Model explained
In her practice, Michaela often uses the Addiction Tree Model to help people understand their experience. The image of a tree makes a complex idea easier to hold: the addiction we can see is only one part of a much larger living system.
The tree has three main parts.
The branches: the visible forms of addiction
The branches represent the many forms addiction can take. These include substances such as food, caffeine, nicotine, and drugs, as well as activities like work, exercise, gambling, and crime. They can also include thought patterns such as perfectionism and obsessive worrying, intense feelings like anger or jealousy, and even relationships marked by co-dependency. Addiction, in this sense, is any compulsive behaviour we keep returning to despite the long-term harm it causes.
The roots: what drives the behaviour
Beneath the surface lie the roots, which differ from person to person. They may include loneliness, fear, grief, genetics, or guilt. The most common root, present for almost everyone living with addiction, is shame. Because shame is so often suppressed, it can quietly fuel other behaviours too, including anger, envy, and harsh judgment of ourselves and others.
The soil: where the roots are fed
The soil is what keeps the whole tree alive. It is made up of childhood trauma and experiences of neglect or abuse, whether physical, emotional, sexual, or spiritual. As long as this soil remains untended, it continues to nourish the roots, and the tree keeps growing. This is why true recovery asks us to look at the soil, not just prune the branches.
There is an important clue in how this model plays out in real life. A person might successfully give up alcohol, only to find themselves swept into something more socially acceptable, such as workaholism or compulsive exercise. The branch has changed, but the roots and soil remain. This pattern reveals the deeper truth: the addiction was never really the main issue.
How unmet needs and trauma feed the roots
Why does trauma have such a powerful hold? Because the behaviours we develop in childhood to survive difficult experiences do not simply disappear. They linger in our nervous systems and in our beliefs about ourselves and the world.
The research here is striking. According to a 2023 review published by the National Institutes of Health, adults with any history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have a 4.3-fold higher likelihood of developing a substance use disorder, rising to 5.9-fold for women. Dr Gabor Maté, a leading voice on trauma and addiction, frames it simply: all addictions come from emotional loss and exist to soothe the pain resulting from that loss.
Understanding this can be a relief. It means addiction is not a moral failing or a lack of willpower. It is a very human attempt to meet an unmet need, to find safety, comfort, or connection in the only way that felt available at the time.
Why treating only the behaviour isn't enough
If we focus solely on stopping the behaviour, we risk leaving the roots untouched. The relief addiction offers is always short-term, and when the underlying pain returns, it often comes back stronger. This is how people can move from one compulsion to the next without ever feeling truly free.
Lasting change asks for something deeper. It means gently exploring the roots and tending to the soil that feeds them. This work is rarely quick, and it is rarely easy, but it is where real freedom begins. When the underlying pain is understood and cared for, the compulsive behaviour loses much of its grip.
How therapy can help you explore the roots
Looking at the roots of addiction is tender work, and it is not something you have to do alone. A trauma-informed approach creates safety first, allowing you to move at your own pace and share only as much as feels manageable. The aim is not to force a return to painful memories, but to understand the day-to-day patterns and symptoms you are living with now.
This is exactly the kind of work psychotherapy supports. At Therapy with Michaela, you can explore these deeper patterns through individual psychotherapy, psychology sessions, or group psychotherapy at the Hampton clinic in Melbourne, with secure telehealth appointments available across Australia. For those who prefer to begin in their own time, there are also online courses designed to guide you through these ideas at your own pace.
If you would like a practical starting point, the Addiction Trigger Worksheet can help you identify the situations, emotions, and thoughts that tend to lead to unhealthy behaviours. The Coping Skills Worksheet and the Nervous System Regulation Bundle offer gentle, evidence-based tools to support you along the way.
Continue exploring this series
This post is the first of four connected pieces on understanding and healing addiction. To deepen your understanding, you may like to read:
Understanding the Addiction Tree Model — a closer look at how the branches, roots, and soil work together.
Understanding Addiction Triggers — how to recognise the situations and emotions that drive compulsive behaviour.
Healing Is a Process — what to expect on the path to recovery, and how to be patient with yourself along the way.
Where healing really begins
Addiction makes far more sense when we stop looking only at the branches and start paying attention to the roots and soil beneath. The behaviour you see is rarely the real problem. It is a signal, pointing toward pain that deserves understanding rather than judgement.
If any of this resonates with you, consider it an invitation to be curious rather than critical with yourself. What might your own behaviour be trying to soothe? You don't have to answer that alone.
When you feel ready, you can reach out to Therapy with Michaela to explore therapy options, browse the online courses, or download a worksheet to take a small first step today. Healing begins not by cutting away the branches, but by tending, with compassion, to what lies beneath.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main roots of addiction?
The main roots of addiction include loneliness, fear, grief, guilt, genetics, and most consistently, shame. These are fed by deeper "soil" made up of childhood trauma and experiences of neglect or abuse. The visible behaviour is usually an attempt to soothe the pain these roots create.
What is the Addiction Tree Model?
The Addiction Tree Model is a way of understanding addiction as a living system with three parts: the branches (the visible forms of addiction), the roots (the emotions and beliefs driving it), and the soil (the trauma and neglect that feed it). It shows that lasting recovery comes from addressing the roots and soil, not just the branches.
Why isn't stopping the behaviour enough to recover from addiction?
Stopping the behaviour only addresses the surface. Because the relief is short-term, the underlying pain often returns stronger, and people may simply switch to another compulsion, such as moving from alcohol to overworking. True recovery requires tending to the underlying roots and soil.
Is addiction caused by trauma?
Trauma is a major contributing factor. Research from the National Institutes of Health found that adults with any history of adverse childhood experiences are 4.3 times more likely to develop a substance use disorder. Trauma shapes the beliefs and coping patterns that often lead to addiction, though genetics and environment also play a role.
How can therapy help with the roots of addiction?
Trauma-informed therapy creates safety and helps you gently explore the emotional roots of addiction at your own pace. At Therapy with Michaela, this support is available through individual psychotherapy, psychology sessions, group psychotherapy, online courses, and telehealth across Australia, alongside practical worksheets you can use between sessions.