I disagree. I think that people spend far too much time looking for and lamenting over a problem's "roots." Whether it's what someone did to you or your parents, how you grew up, where you grew up, some bad stroke of luck, a poor decision, ... whatever.
Life is unfair. Everyone has problems. Everyone has to face adversity. It's how we choose to react to them in the present that determines how things will go in the future. Understanding the past can be helpful if it gives you an insight as to how you can react better now (like perhaps not prescribing painkillers so easily for injuries in the future), but using it as an excuse or a justification for anything is really counterproductive to improving situations. IMO, of course.