Childhood adversity and substance misuse.

There is a strong link between childhood adversity and subsequent substance misuse. We describe a case of childhood adversity consisting of physical and sexual abuse, experience of homelessness in childhood and adulthood, intimate partner violence and polysubstance misuse in a 32 year old woman currently attending the methadone maintenance programme in the Drug Treatment Centre Board, Trinity Court, Dublin. The relevant literature to the case is reviewed in relation to the aetiology and symptoms of this complex case.