The Addicted Mind Podcast
Duane Osterlind, LMFT
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The Addicted Mind Podcast is about understanding addiction from a research and treatment perspective. We will dive into what drives the addictive process, explore the latest research on addiction, and talk about the latest addiction treatment options. We will also explore what recovery from addiction looks like from a variety of different people. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction then The Addicted Mind Podcast can help.
Available episodes
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Oldest first
6 days ago
217: Understanding the Biomarkers of Addiction with Dr. Evelyn Higgins
If you found out earlier on in your youth that you actually have a genetic propensity toward addiction, would you have made decisions a lot differently? Addiction is a bio-psycho-social model, but we don't really look at the bio part of it. Sometimes, we have to look at the physiology of things to understand addiction better. And there has to be a paradigm shift in thinking about how we operate and exist in this world.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Dr. Evelyn Higgins about genes and biomarkers, how they influence our behavior, how they play out in addiction, and why knowing about this part of ourselves is an important step in addiction treatment and recovery.
Dr. Evelyn Higgins is the founder and CEO of Wired For Addiction and a recognized international expert in the epidemiology of addiction. With 34 years in clinical practice, Dr. Higgins has spent over 16 years dedicated to research and development in the science of addiction recovery, and she finds herself at the nexus of epigenetics, neuroscience, and addiction.
In this episode, you will hear:
What it means to look at errors in genetic coding
Epigenetics and aberrant behaviors
Why addiction is not a moral flaw, but a disease
The first step is getting objective information.
The common genetic markers of addiction
How seeing addiction from a biological perspective impacts the families
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Supporting Resources:
Wired For Addiction
Dr. Higgins’ TEDTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XNk8tNsaco
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
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Jan 16, 2023
216: From Gray Area Drinking to Becoming Sober Curious Women with Casey Davidson
There are thousands of women who are drinking and suffering in silence. And when we're dealing with our internal struggles, we feel alone. There’s pain and misery attached to that. How are we then able to provide a safe space for women to follow down a path to recovery and give them the kind of support they need?
On this episode, Duane speaks with Casey Davidson about the topic of gray area drinking, what that means, what that looks like, and the benefits of being sober, curious, and maybe just taking a longer break from alcohol to see if that betters your life. Casey also shares her own personal story of doing that, how she realized alcohol was not what she needed, and how she was able to stop just trying to moderate her drinking and remove alcohol from her life.
An ex-red wine girl turned life and sobriety coach, Casey helps women create lives they love without alcohol. She hosts The Hello Someday Podcast, created for gray area drinkers and sober curious women. Casey is passionate about helping women – who are doing all the things and then coming home and drinking to forget all the things – change their relationship with alcohol.
In this episode, you will hear:
Casey’s journey through alcoholism and recovery
The benefits of removing alcohol from your life
What gray area drinking means
Dealing with the stigma around going to AA
What the sober curious movement is about
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
Website: https://hellosomedaycoaching.com/
The Hello Someday Podcast
https://hellosomedaycoaching.com/podcast/
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
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Jan 9, 2023
215: How to Help Your Loved One Make a Positive Change with Kenneth Carpenter
Addiction does not only impact the one addicted, it also affects their family and friends. It’s hard to see your loved one hurting and struggling. But you can’t help them heal with guilt and shame. There are tools and resources to help you help your loved one make a positive change. The goal is to help them feel safe, heard and seen, supported, and understood.
On today’s episode, Duane talks with licensed clinical psychologist and research scientist Kenneth Carpenter, PhD. He is the co-author of The Beyond Addiction Workbook for Family and Friends: Evidence-Based Skills to Help a Loved One Make Positive Change. Ken is the Director of Training for the Center for Motivation and Change (CMC) and CMC: Foundation for Change. He has held academic and research science positions at New York-based universities and state agencies.
If you have a loved one who might be bound by the chains of addiction, learn how you can foster an open communication with them and hopefully, bring lasting change.
In this episode, you will hear:
Motivation that comes from hope instead of pain
What is motivational interviewing
Understanding that ambivalence is part of the process
How to set the tone of your conversations
Practicing self-awareness and connecting to your values
Using positive reinforcement to support the change process
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
https://cmcffc.org/
The Beyond Addiction Workbook for Family and Friends
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Addiction-Workbook-Family-Friends/dp/1648480187
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Jan 2, 2023
214: The Making of Clean Slate with Jared Callahan
A lot of us resonate with movies because we get to learn about the world through them. Making movies is hard enough. Now, imagine a documentary of someone making a movie during their rehab journey.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Jared Callahan about his new feature-length documentary. Clean Slate provides an immersive, veritate look into the world of recovery amid the biggest drug epidemic in American history. It follows two individuals Cassidy and Josh, as they attempt to make a short film during their recovery and rehab state.
Jared is an award-winning director, producer, and founder of Emmy-nominated production company The People People Media Foundation. Based on a 95-acre farm in the San Francisco East Bay, they specialize in personal and unique stories that help give others a voice.
In making this documentary, Jared had to spend 18 months at a recovery facility that he got completely enveloped in their world. He hopes the film would move people the way he has been deeply touched by it. Hopefully, it will change how people view and treat addiction – giving more grace and developing more empathy for people struggling with it, instead of condemning them and stereotyping their condition like it’s a crime or a disease.
In this episode, you will hear:
How Clean Slate came to be and why Jared accepted the project
Lessons Jared learned about addiction and recovery while making this film
The experience of being immersed in a recovery facility
Battling the powerlessness of being a documentary filmmaker
The process of making the film
Understanding the different cultures in the world of recovery
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
www.peoplepeoplemedia.com
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
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Dec 26, 2022
213: Embracing Recovery and Losing Anonymity with Sam Quinones
America is in the midst of a new drug crisis. Earlier this year, the CDC reported a staggering 107,000 overdose deaths in 2021. That's one every five minutes. It's up almost 15% from 2020 and nearly 70% of those deaths involved fentanyl.
On today's episode, Duane speaks with Sam Quinones who has been sounding the alarm for years. A journalist and storyteller, Sam is a former LA Times reporter and author of four acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, including New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic. She’s also the author of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, which captures the devastation of this new epidemic of synthetic drugs, but at the same time, offers a lot of hope.
Duane and Sam explore the root of this whole opioid crisis and the need for us, as a society, to embrace recovery without anonymity, no more euphemisms, and no more hiding. We all have to get out of the shame that comes with addiction. We’re also living in a culture of addictive stuff where fast food, sugars, and pornography are legal. All this boils down to social change that is best achieved in small ways and small daily efforts – and it all starts with you!
In this episode, you will hear:
The supply of synthetic drugs in Mexico
How his book focuses on the message of hope in the midst of the opioid era
Dr. Lou Ortenzio’s story of addiction and recovery
Getting rid of the anonymity and euphemisms
How we’re living in a culture of addictive stuff
Becoming a master of your own fate
What you can do on an individual level
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
https://samquinones.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samquinonesjournalist
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samquinones_author/
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-YA-Americas-Opiate-Epidemic/dp/1547601310
The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth
https://www.amazon.com/Least-Us-Tales-America-Fentanyl-ebook/dp/B0932RRNVL?ref_=ast_sto_dp
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dec 19, 2022
212: From Bottomless to Sober with Jessica Dueñas: Finding Her Way Out of Pain
How do we break the stigma around addiction and mental health support for people of color? It’s important that different communities are able to change that narrative so everyone is provided the adequate support they need.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Jessica Dueñas who shares her story of addiction, recovery, and using her voice to help other people find their way out of pain. Jessica started with binge eating in her bedroom as a Latina girl growing up in New York City. By the time she got to college, her addiction had morphed into alcoholism. Years later, she was awarded Teacher of the Year in Kentucky but was still drinking a fifth of bourbon a day – a secret she had to hide from her peers, friends, and students.
When she found her boyfriend lifeless from a drug overdose in his apartment, Jessica got out of control and deeper into her addiction, nearly dying herself in the months after his passing. Ultimately, she found recovery and has been sober since November 2020.
Listen in as Jessica shares her story to help break the stigma of addiction and mental health treatment. Through her platform, Bottomless to Sober, she shares stories of people's recovery and continues to break the stigma of addiction.
In this episode, you will hear:
Drinking through the pain and pressure to be perfect as an immigrant
The decision to step forward and speak up about her story
What it was like for her to bring mental health issues into the light
Breaking the stigma around mental health support for people of color
Specific issues people of color face when getting treatment
The importance of cultural competence in mental health care
The power of sharing your story to help others
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
https://www.bottomlesstosober.com/
NovusMindfulLife.com
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
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Dec 12, 2022
211: Achieving Recovery Through Healthy Spirituality Adam Jablin
Why is it that a lot of successful people, even superstars, and athletes, end up in a downward spiral of depression? Usually, what's missing is a spiritual component of life. On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Adam Jablin, a best-selling author, inspirational keynote speaker, transformational life coach, and spiritual and recovery mentor.
Adam is passionate about helping people break through any traumas and old addictions or harmful patterns, and ignite the hero that lives within them so they can accomplish their goals and realize the things pulling them back. Adam is also the author of the book, Lotsaholic: From a Sick to Sober Superman.
Adam grew up in a culture where he had to do more to be more. Growing up as a fat kid made him feel insecure. But while he was able to make everyone like him through his humor, he was still broken inside. He thought all the drugs and alcohol filled the void initially, until those didn’t work. Living in denial, Adam eventually realized there is a higher power – greater than him and any of us – that’s around us all the time, nurturing us and healing our wounds.
In this episode, you will hear:
How Adam got into addiction
Living in a culture of “more is more” and learning that less is more
Why you can’t get more of spirituality, but you can enhance it
Healthy spirituality vs. unhealthy spirituality
Breaking through the armor that protects your traumas to be healed
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
https://adamjablin.com/
Lotsaholic: From a Sick to Sober Superman by Adam Jablin
https://www.amazon.com/Lotsaholic-Sober-Superman-Adam-Jablin/dp/0998829900
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamjablin/
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dec 5, 2022
210: Achieving Recovery Through Addressing Nutrition with Maggie Jenson
Several statistics show that children of alcoholics will grow up to either become alcoholic themselves, or marry one because they're so conditioned to that lifestyle. A huge part of that is because they could get so rooted in their own belief systems that they end up in self-sabotage without even realizing it. And somehow, transformation only occurs when intense suffering forces them to make that shift.
On today's episode, Duane chats with Maggie Jenson, an alternative recovery coach. Maggie is the creator of The Magnify Method, an up-to-date, science-backed program devoted to personal development and overcoming addictive behavior. A behavioral change specialist, Maggie utilizes her knowledge in nutrition coaching and personal training in helping clients learn “to think different to drink different, or never again ” through practicing holistic Mind-Body-Soul recovery.
Maggie grew up in an alcoholic home, specifically, a mom who was alcoholic even until her death. Her biggest trauma was at 12 years old when her brother took away his life while they were home alone. Dealing with feelings of guilt and pain, Maggie started drinking six months after. And while her brother’s death was the reason that she began drinking, her father’s death, on the other hand, paved the way for her to make a radical shift. Listen in as Maggie shares more about her story, how to break free from your program, and how nutrition and fitness play a huge role in recovery.
In this episode, you will hear:
The impact of alcoholics on kids
How trauma is exacerbated when we don’t talk about it
What motivated her to pursue her passion for nutrition and fitness
The courage to take the risk to go against your self-limiting beliefs
It’s the little things that build up your confidence
How nutrition affects your mood and your belief system
The power of affirmation to override your program
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
Website: https://www.magnifypw.com/
Habits-for-Happiness Workbook: https://www.magnifypw.com/habits
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magnifymaggie/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@magnifymaggiej
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@magnifymaggie
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Nov 28, 2022
209: Keep the Change with Bart Nollenberger
Recovery can be more challenging when we get caught in that spiral of addiction and narcissism. Somehow, you will have to get to the point where you just have to surrender to a higher power.
On today's episode, Duane speaks with recovery coach and leadership expert Bart Nollenberger. Bart shares his journey of moving from someone who was self-absorbed in his addiction to a person who is truly about giving and surrendering the self. Bart went from wrecking six cars in high school either because he was drunk or he was seeking attention and his relationship with cocaine began when he was 20 years old. When he was 27 years old, he went in for treatment and he remembers pulling out a bundle of cocaine from his pocket and flushing it down the toilet. It wasn’t until 10 years after being sober that he finally found his higher power in Jesus. To date, Bart is celebrating 37 and a half years of sobriety from drugs and alcohol.
Bart is a successful motivational speaker, author, and trainer. He has taught sales and leadership for some of the top companies in the world, including Ford Motor Company, Toyota USA, and some of the largest auto dealership groups. But more than anything, Bart is passionate about recovery and living life in recovery. He recently authored the book, Keep the Change, and he also hosts a podcast of the same name, where he shares his personal experience, wisdom, personal development, and spirituality in an authentic way to spark change in others.
In this episode, you will hear:
Making the decision to stop but still having to do the work
Bart’s journey to recovery
Letting go and letting God
Finding integrity and humility through recovery
The impetus behind Keep the Change – the podcast and the book
How everything aligns when healing takes place
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xfURkXZGEHVYIOK0DdR9S
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bart.nollenberger/?hl=en
Call: 480-327-8751
Email: bart@bartnollenberger.com
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Nov 21, 2022
208: Finding a New Purpose in Life with Maroon 5 Founding Drummer Ryan Dusick
It’s so easy to break down and find yourself in an emotional spiral when adversity strikes at the height of your career and then all the things you’ve worked hard for are suddenly taken away from you.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Ryan, as he talks about his journey through addiction and recovery. As the founding drummer of the band Maroon 5, Ryan Dusick was busy touring for years, until a chronic injury caused him to lose everything. And the way he coped with all the pain and trauma was through alcohol and drugs.
Now living a whole new life filled with purpose and meaning as an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and mental health advocate, Ryan has also authored the book, Harder to Breathe: A Memoir of Making Maroon 5, Losing It All, and Finding Recovery. He’s sending a powerful message that there's hope in recovery and finding a new path in life.
In this episode, you will hear:
Ryan's breakdown as a performer – physically and emotionally
His experience with self-loathing and self-medication
How pride gets in the way of growth
Humbling moments during the last six months of his addiction
What recovery looked like for Ryan
Writing the book as the culmination of his journey
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
www.ryandusick.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/ryan_michael_dusick
Harder to Breathe: A Memoir of Making Maroon 5, Losing It All, and Finding Recovery
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/harder-to-breathe-ryan-dusick/1141008275
NovusMindfulLife.com
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Nov 14, 2022
207: Trauma Healing Through EMDR Therapy with Dr. Korn and Michael Baldwin
Did you know that your eye movements could free you from all the trauma and pain? Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR for short, is a unique type of psychotherapy proven to help people recover from trauma and improve the quality of their lives.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Dr. Deborah Korn and Michael Baldwin, co-authors of Every Memory Deserves Respect: EMDR, the Proven Trauma Therapy with the Power to Heal.
Deborah is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is on the faculties of the EMDR Institute in California and the Trauma Research Foundation in Boston. Deborah presents and consults internationally on the treatment of adult survivors of childhood abuse and neglect.
Michael is an accomplished leader in the communications industry with more than 35 years of award-winning work in advertising. He is the founder and principal of the branding and communication firm Michael Baldwin Inc, in New York. Mi…
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Nov 9, 2022
Bonus Episode: From A Slight Change of Plans: Musician Jason Isbell on the Complexities of Addiction
We’re sharing a special episode from another podcast, A Slight Change of Plans, from Pushkin Industries. In this preview, four-time Grammy Award-winning musician Jason Isbell discusses how his early career was plagued by addiction. Getting sober allowed him to re-examine aspects of his personality that he once saw as his greatest weaknesses. Hear more from A Slight Change of Plans at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/scp5?sid=addicted.
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Nov 7, 2022
206: The Sober Economy: Leveraging Blockchain Technology to Help People in Recovery with Dr. Harold Jonas
Addiction recovery is a long process that’s why we need long-term solutions to help people move into a recovery state. We need a community and we need all the resources around us to maintain a sober world. But what do blockchain and cryptocurrency have to do with addiction and recovery?
On today's episode, Duane speaks with Dr. Harold Jonas, a licensed mental health counselor and the founder and CEO of the Soberverse. They discuss how his projects including Sobercoin and the Sober Systems mobile app help with addiction recovery, as well as the concept of contingency management as an effective tool for harm reduction
Harold also talks about his own addiction and recovery journey and how he's continuing to move forward in self-care and help people dealing with addiction and mental disorders by leveraging technology in healthcare.
Since 1999, Harold has been at the center of Sober Network, Inc. and each of its related digital properties. His unparalleled experience with both web…
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Oct 31, 2022
205: The Promise of a Fresh Start with Edwige Gilbert Blade
Addiction is not the problem, it's the result of not knowing how to access a safe place within – and a lot of that has to do with regulating your emotions. When you don’t have the toolbox for emotional regulation, that’s when addiction starts to arise. You start to feel this void and so you fill it up with food, drugs, alcohol, or something detrimental to your health and well-being.
Learn how to equip yourself with the right tools and techniques to help you on this journey to finding peace and calmness so you can finally manifest your vision of a fresh start. On today’s episode, Duane speaks with wellness and stress management coach, Edwige Gilbert Blade.
Edwige is the founder of New Life Directions and the author of The Fresh Start Promise: 28 Days to Total Mind, Body, Spirit Transformation. She has over 30 years of experience working with individuals and groups and conducting seminars, retreats, and lectures around the world. Her forte is teaching people how to tran…
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Oct 24, 2022
204: A Roadmap to Change and Living Your Best Life with Lee LaMee
Change is possible. There is hope. You just need a roadmap toward that change. On today's episode, Duane speaks with Lee LaMee, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner who has a lot of wisdom and experience in the field of change.
Lee talks about his book, The Theory & Practice of Well-Being: Your Comprehensive & Actionable Guide to the Good Life, which he has put together in a digestible, down-to-earth, pragmatic way so people can take action. He also shares his personal experience, having worked on both sides of this field – the medical side and the mental health side – and how that all came together to create a guide to help people live their best life.
With a background in various settings including oncology, psychiatry, Veterans Affairs, and medical-surgical nursing, Lee studied in Amsterdam before continuing his studies in the United Kingdom. He has worked as a registered nurse and is also a U.S. Air Force veteran. Lee is very passionate about human behavior an…
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Oct 17, 2022
203: Breaking the Stigma and Promoting Mental Health Among College Students with Dr. Christine Catipon
Imagine if you were in college right now, do you think you could ever survive it? Today, college students are met with so many issues. At this stage of their life where they’re exploring their identity, they’re presented with all of this information on social media telling them that they're not enough and not doing enough. Add that to the already massive amount of academic pressure, especially in prominent universities. Plus, the pandemic, which has exacerbated the mental health concerns of many.
And when you're not sure of who you are and who you want to be in the world, all this can be very detrimental. Due to a lack of access to coping strategies or social support, it’s prevalent for this demographic to turn to either self-medication or substance abuse. How then should college students navigate through this season of their life knowing and feeling that they’re enough and they’re supported?
On today's episode, Duane speaks with Dr. Christine Catipon, a licensed clin…
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Oct 10, 2022
202: Breaking the Stigma Around Addiction and Recovery in the Workplace with Cheryl Brown-Merriwether
Addiction is not a new problem in the workplace. In fact, about 70% of folks that are using illicit drugs are employed in the workplace, either full-time or part-time. However, this is not a comfortable topic for people to talk about obviously due to the stigma around it.
How do we then bridge that gap and break the silence so people get the help they need, and for total recovery to take place?
On today's episode, Duane speaks with Cheryl Brown-Merriwether, HR professional and recovery support professional, about the innovations in the workplace as well as addiction and recovery from a workplace perspective and a human relations perspective.
Cheryl holds a number of certifications with several years of experience working with clinical professionals in addiction and recovery support services. Through educational programs, Cheryl is committed to helping people in the workplace understand addiction, substance use disorder, and recovery. Cheryl hopes to reduce the stigma and c…
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Oct 3, 2022
201: A Neurological Approach to the Treatment of Addiction with Dr. Michael Barta
It’s important to look at addiction from the perspective of seeing how the body operates, specifically our nervous system. By figuring out what changes can be done from a neurological approach, we then begin to heal, treat, and change for the better.
If your nervous system isn't in tune, then you're not going to be able to make those connections. You go down the path of loneliness and because it’s too painful, you try to find a way out. And if you don’t know what’s going on in your nervous system, then you resort to sex, drug, alcohol, etc. – and you get stuck.
On this episode, Duane speaks with Dr. Michael Barta, a licensed professional counselor and certified sex addiction therapist, about the neurological approach to the treatment of addiction. Dr. Barta created the TINSA and ENTUNE models to show how working directly with the brain and nervous system enables individuals to reestablish authentic connections so people struggling with addiction can heal their traumas…
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Sep 26, 2022
200: Finding Your Breath and Igniting Your Fire with Michelle Hillier
Many people go through their day always having to do something. Whether that’s getting involved in your kid’s activities, running errands, or working – you do things every day to ignite your fire. Even when you work out, you think the harder, faster, or heavier it is, the better.
The question is, do you still have the time to breathe? It’s important to understand that as much as you’re igniting your fire within, you also have to find your breath.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Michelle Hillier, speaker, recovery coach, and mind/body educator, about finding your breath and fire and balancing both as you come home to your authentic self.
Michelle shares her story of alcoholism and recovery. Now sober for over a year, Michelle feels she has entered her authentic self again, after being lost for 25 years. Movement, yoga, and breathwork were essential parts of her recovery process, which she also teaches to other people through her speaking and workshops across organi…
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Sep 19, 2022
199: Normalizing a Space of Sobriety with Drew Davis
Over the years, our society has normalized drinking. At almost every party or event, booze is a huge part of the celebration. No booze = no fun. But what if we could create a space where everyone can just have fun while still being their authentic self – minus the alcohol?
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Drew Davis, Founder of Gem Life + Bar. Drew tells her story of healing trauma, her resiliency, and her drive to move forward and create a space of wellness that gives people the opportunity to enjoy social spaces without alcohol.
Over the last decade, Drew has battled the ugly side effects of autoimmune diseases. At the same time, she struggled with depression which led her to resort to drinking. After experiencing some life-threatening issues with some of her autoimmune diseases, Drew knew it was time for her to reevaluate the toxic things in her life and move towards a healthy and authentic space.
Drew created Gem Bar, an inclusive alcohol-free space that allows people…
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Sep 12, 2022
198: Dealing with Codependency in the LGBTQ+ Community with Miriam Geiger
Dealing with Codependency in the LGBTQ+ Community with Miriam Geiger
The LGBTQ community has long been underserved by the mental health care system as well as recovery supports, despite being an increasingly visible and sizable part of the general population. In part, this is due to the ongoing discrimination and prejudice that members of the LGBTQ community face on a daily basis.
According to Marriage and Family therapist, Miriam Geiger, who is also part of the LGBTQ+ community, many LGBTQ people find themselves struggling with issues of codependency in their relationships due to the overlapping issues of trauma, marginalization, and lack of safe spaces to express themselves and their identity.
If you want to learn more about Miriam and her work around codependency and relationships, check out https://theaddictedmind.com/198 and her website miriamgeiger.com.
In this episode, you will hear:
Codependency in the LGBTQ+ community
Dealing with a sense of distorted self
Why the LGBTQ+…
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Sep 5, 2022
197: A Little Spark of Willingness Is All It Takes with Amy Liz Harrison
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Amy Liz Harrison, host of the Eternally Amy podcast and author of several amazing books "Eternally Expecting" and "Eternally Awkward."
Amy shares her story of struggling with alcohol, being a mom of eight, and how finally, in one very difficult moment, she had to face herself and the consequences of her drinking. She unveils her whole story from the beginning, all the way to the end, and finally, to where she is now, living a fulfilling life that is meaningful, connected, and authentic.
Growing up, Amy felt she didn’t belong. She built a life and a foundation around faith so she was conditioned that she should be able to get through anything because she’s got God. And so, there was this thread of shame as an overarching theme in her life, thinking she didn’t have the right to feel that way. She was concerned about where to find this manual to life, because it was not showing up in her mailbox. Eventually, she found herself addicted to dri…
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Aug 29, 2022
196: A Real-Time Glimpse of Alcoholism, Depression, and Loss During a Search for More Sunrises with Amy Law and Jeff Deck
Recovery from addiction doesn’t just stop there. People in recovery could still be struggling with depression. While addiction and depression are somewhat correlated, both of them should still be addressed individually.
In this episode, Duane speaks with Amy Law and Jeff Deck, authors of the book, “We Got This, Kids: A real-time and raw glimpse of alcoholism, depression, and loss during a search for more sunrises.” Amy shares the story of her brother, Andy, who committed suicide after a struggle with alcoholism and depression.
At that time, Andy was writing his memoirs but never got to finish them. Amy's courage to share Andy's story and to let people into that is truly inspiring. In the book, Amy also shares her perspective of taking Andy’s memoirs and how she collaborated with Jeff Deck to bring their beautiful message to completion and share it with the world.
If you're struggling or contemplating suicide, please reach out for help call 988 or 1-800-273-8255 if you're in t…
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Aug 22, 2022
195: Treating Addiction Through Healing Abandonment Wounds with Susan Anderson
The fear of abandonment is universal. The problem is – we try to medicate that feeling with whatever gives us instant gratification (drugs, alcohol, food, television, sleeping, social media, shopping, etc.)
Whatever that looks like, addiction can stem from an unhealed abandonment wound. And when you fail to take care of that wound, it can lead to self-sabotage. So how do we heal our abandonment issues?
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Susan Anderson, founder of Abandonment Recovery, a program that helps people with numerous issues such as heartbreak loss, self-sabotage, addiction, and compulsion. Susan shares her own story of how she got into this work of dealing with abandonment. Susan gives us an illustration of what abandonment looks like, how it impacts our life, and what we can do to overcome it.
Susan points out that overcoming abandonment is a doing process. Therefore, just knowing about it isn't necessarily going to help you overcome the wound that may be negatively…
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Aug 15, 2022
194: Running Without the Devil with Henry Ward
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with ultra-runner and recovering alcoholic and addict, Henry Ward, as he shares his own story of recovery, about how alcoholism and drugs took his whole life, and finally getting into treatment.
For a few years, Henry was wandering around, not being able to do anything, until he stumbled into running. Today, he shares how running has impacted his life, and how he uses running, not only in his own recovery but also to bring his passion for running to others through his nonprofit Running Without the Devil.
Growing up in a family and community where alcohol was prevalent, Henry subconsciously knew he got the addictive gene. Eventually, he got stuck into this vicious cycle which caused a lot of damage to his reputation and pushed away relationships. Ultimately, he went into treatment and discovered his passion for running. The more runner’s high he got, the more he felt like himself.
After 22 years of drinking and using, Henry had dealt with all the…
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Aug 8, 2022
193: Separating Yourself from Addiction with Tish Marsh
There’s always shame and guilt attached to addiction. But once you get to the other side of addiction, it’s going to be better than the life you had before. One of the mindset shifts important in recovery is being able to separate yourself from the addiction. Addiction is a chronic disease, it’s not a moral failing. Therefore, you should learn not to take it personally.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Tish Marsh who shares her own struggle with opioid addiction that started after she had some medical procedures. Tish was a high-functioning addict that as a pharmacist, she still managed to work with drugs daily. But she reckons her profession was also instrumental to her recovery.
Listen in as Tish also talks about her YouTube channel, Ask Pharmacist Tish, where she interviews the homeless community and advocates for mental health and addiction treatment and support. Her purpose is to expose the addiction and mental health issues that need to be treated so people can ultim…
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Aug 1, 2022
192: Psychedelics Treatment for Addiction and Emotional Trauma with Tom Feegel
There's an epidemic of a chemical overdose in our country today where more and more people are sick and dying faster. In fact, a 2021 report from the Centers for Disease Control suggests that over 100,000 people died of chemical overdoses in one year. This is not just an entrepreneurial, academic exercise. It’s now a moral obligation.
Is there a way to do better than the conventional recovery industry? What does it take? Could we use innovation to build a platform that includes technology, residential, medical, psychotherapeutic engagement, and long-term aftercare?
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Tom Feegel, CEO of Beond Treatment. Not only does he have his own story of addiction and recovery to tell, but he also talks about how his entrepreneurial spirit has led him to create a place for individuals who are struggling with addiction and emotional trauma.
Discover how a medicinal plant derivative called Ibogaine can help treat addiction and trauma so people who are suffer…
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Jul 26, 2022
191: Drug Alcohol Prevention and Intervention for Teens with Kim Bemis
Stress and peer pressure are big issues with teens which could result in feelings of anxiety and depression, or worse, substance or alcohol abuse. School is complicated with all the peer pressure involved. And so, as parents, we need to give them the support they need as they walk their way through life.
Oftentimes, parents are very focused on getting their kids better, but they're not doing anything to support themselves. What if there was a program that provides holistic support to both parents and teens? Well, the good news is there is – and it doesn’t cost anything to get the resources that you and your kids need.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Kim Bemis of Gobi, a comprehensive educational platform that provides the first online drug and alcohol prevention and early intervention programs for parents and their teenagers that you do together. Gobi is dedicated to helping middle and high school teens and their families rethink their relationship with drugs and alcoho…
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Jul 20, 2022
190: Living on the Other Side of Addiction with Dana Golden
Whether it's divorce, job loss, addiction, or being the spouse of an addict, we're all going through recovery from something. We can make our own path – and that’s what recovery is all about. You’ve just got to learn how to pick up and move on.
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with certified recovery and family addiction coach, Dana Golden, who talks about living on the other side of addiction. She shares what it was like living with a partner struggling with addiction and how she found her own freedom through that.
Growing up, Dana's dad had a process addiction – gambling, sex, alcohol, you name it. From that, she learned some very maladaptive behaviors to cope with, which she carried over later on with her other relationships, including her then-husband. She eventually got sick and tired of being sick and tired. Having been brought up with the idea that she needs a man, she finally understood that her whole recovery journey was all about advoc…
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Jul 12, 2022
189: Recovering from Codependency and Addiction with Sarah Michaud
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Sarah Michaud, clinical psychologist and author of Co-Crazy: One Psychologist's Recovery from Codependency and Addiction: A Memoir and Roadmap to Freedom.
One of the reasons Sarah published a book on codependency is that after working with patients and clients for the last 30 years, Sarah noticed that a lot of them were recovering addicts and alcoholics.
In her book, Co-Crazy, Sarah shares her own story as well. In 2006, Sarah married a guy, who was 15 years sober, and thought he was the man of her dreams. Unfortunately, he ended up relapsing after getting surgery and getting into the opiates.
The major underlying issue for a lot of recovering addicts is unresolved codependency. Codependent behavior comes out of fear and addiction comes out of fear or unresolved feelings. For an addicted person, there’s all that rationalizing, minimizing, and denial happening. It’s the same process for the codependent as well.
H…
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Jul 6, 2022
188: The 30-Second Solution to Transforming Your Life with Ron Kardashian
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with keynote speaker, author, executive coach, and humanitarian, Ron Kardashian.
Author of the book, 30-Second Solution: Transform Your Body, Business, Relationships, and Life in Just Seconds at a Time, Ron discusses how making micro-changes in your life can change your brain and live the life you want. We all can change that narrative – and in changing that narrative and that belief system, we can change our life.
Ron’s career started as a national strength and conditioning specialist; in other words, he was a personal trainer. His word of choice is Kinesiology, which is basically the study of human movement, and so, it was natural for him to fall in love with health and fitness. Ron played sports all the way through high school, and it landed him his own private practice in California. By the time he was 25, Ron had made it to the NFL consulting for professional athletes.
One day, a gentleman from the San Francisc…
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Jun 27, 2022
187: Rebroadcast - Ursula Whiteside
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, Duane interviews Dr. Ursula Whiteside, a clinician, researcher, and trainer in the area of suicide prevention. Ursula struggled with her suicidal thoughts throughout her life, and in 1999, she moved to Washington state to learn from Marsha Linehan, the creator of DBT (dialectical behavior therapy). Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in some age groups and is more prevalent than car accidents, homicides, and breast cancer. Beyond these statistics, it is estimated that 10 million Americans every year have suicidal ideation.
The exciting thing is that this overwhelming emotional crisis that can lead to suicidal ideation is not sustainable in the brain for more than 48 hours. So while people are within this timeframe, it often feels like things will always be this bad and that there is no hope. While it might not be helpful for them to think that they might feel this way for a couple of days, it might be beneficial for them to know th…
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Jun 20, 2022
186: Neurofeedback: The Gym for Your Brain with Dr. Andrew Hill
Can you train your brain to improve your sleep, better your health, and possibly abolish your tolerance for alcohol, drugs, or other things you might be struggling with?
According to today’s guest, Dr. Andrew Hill, peak performance coach and the founding director of Peak Brain Institute, one of the most insidious things about brain and mind-stuff is that we feel like things are not going to change, and that is just not true. The brain shift happens – it's not a question of if, but how.
Peak Brain Institute is a gym for your brain. It is a brain optimization company across life stages for some people. Neuroscientists help people take control of their own neuroscience the same way your favorite personal trainer at your gym helps you learn how to move through transformation goals.
Also known as brain training, most forms of neurofeedback are a passive form of operant conditioning, but in an involuntary form. It’s essentially taking something you're not usually aware of. For instance…
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Jun 13, 2022
185: Preventing Youth From Falling Into the Trap of Addiction with Maks Ezrin
Teenagers are normally withdrawn. But once you see some shifts in behavior or probably a liquor missing from the liquor cabinet, these could be red flags that your young adult is struggling with addiction.
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Maks Ezrin, certified recovery coach and co-founder of Youth Prevention Mentors, and shares what they’re currently doing to help mentor young adults so they don’t fall into the trap of addiction – striking addiction before addiction strikes.
Maks had his own experience with early addiction. Born and raised in New York City, Maks was living with his loving parents and pretty much had everything life had to offer. But wanting to be perceived as the cool kid in the bunch, Maks pretty much began partying and experimenting with drugs and alcohol at 13 years old. And by the age he was 15, he tried cocaine and ecstasy.
By college, Maks was doubling down on substance abuse. His four years of college involved daily u…
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Jun 6, 2022
184: Hope Road: From Addiction to Recovery with John Dillon
How has music played an impact on your life? In addiction treatment, there are various ways you can do to get the help you need or get to that place where you can find healing for true recovery to happen – music, being one of them.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with John Dillon – a singer and songwriter, radio producer, guitar maker, and author – to talk about his latest album, Hope Road: From Addiction to Recovery. John shares his story of finally finding sobriety and spiritual growth through the 12-step community and what led him to share his hope and wisdom through his music.
It's interesting to hear John talk about how he tracked his own recovery through his album. John decided to write this album and share it with others who may still be struggling and who need more hope in their life so they can ultimately achieve recovery.
John learned how to play the guitar at 13 years old. Growing up in the 60s, which was the hippie generation, John was a rebellious teenager. An…
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May 31, 2022
183: Looking Out for Incarcerated People and Preventing Drug Overdose with Victoria Garrow
Did you know that in some states, in two weeks after someone is released from incarceration, they are up to 127 times more likely to die of a drug overdose than the general population? On top of that, over two-thirds of people incarcerated are struggling with substance use disorders.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Victoria Garrow, co-founding member of The Lookout Project, a nonprofit founded by five college students at the University of Michigan. Victoria explains the reason behind that big overlap between incarcerated people and overdose deaths, as well as their harm reduction approach to addiction treatment and recovery – one overdose response kit at a time.
Victoria also shares her own experience with addiction in her family, losing her mother to a drug overdose when she was still 13 years old, and the impact it had on her, eventually turning that experience into founding The Lookout Project. Their hope is that people will be on the lookout for an overdose, especially…
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May 23, 2022
182: Rebroadcast - Treating Addiction and Breaking Free From a Narcissistic Family Structure with Julie Hall
A lot of people who come in and seek treatment for addiction are carrying complex trauma from growing up in a narcissistic family structure. And for a lot of people who have grown up in narcissistic families, it can be hard to see the patterns that are there.
Everyone has a level of healthy narcissism. We all see things through our lens to some degree. The narcissist, however, has pathological levels of self-involvement and he or she experiences fundamental developmental deficits early on in life.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Julie Hall, author of “The Narcissist In Your Life: Recognizing the Patterns and Learning to Break Free,” to talk about narcissism. Released in December 2019, the book aims to examine narcissistic personality disorder and how it affects the people close to a narcissist. Julie does an excellent job of breaking it down and pulling the pieces apart so people will have more clarity around this type of disorder.
An educational writer, poet, and journal…
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May 16, 2022
181: How TMS Treats Addiction, Depression, & Other Mental Health Issues with Ben Spielberg
Depression sucks and it’s such a hard place to be. On the other hand, addiction used to be framed as this lack of moral character or willpower, and addiction, too, is a very hard place to be. But there's hope.
On this episode, Duane speaks with Ben Spielberg, the founder and CEO of TMS & Brain Health clinics. Ben is a specialist in neuroscience, neuromodulation, and neuroimaging. Today, Ben is going to talk about TMS or transcranial magnetic stimulation, and how TMS offers hope to people struggling with addiction and its underlying mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, and ultimately, returning joy and passion back to their lives.
Ben started working in the field of mental health in 2010 as a biofeedback technician at a Substance Abuse and Recovery Treatment Center in Los Angeles. Part of his work was doing neurofeedback and he was just fascinated at how it impacted people, becoming more resilient to stressors without involving any medication or intervention.
Eventua…
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May 9, 2022
180: How the Inner Child Impacts Your Sexual Addiction with Eddie Capparucci
When dealing with addiction, whether you’re addicted to alcohol, drugs, porn, food, or whatever it is, one of the most effective ways to achieve recovery is by going all the way back to your inner child and figuring out what triggers your pain points so you can eventually take mindful action.
Author and licensed professional counselor, Eddie Capparucci, who specializes in the treatment of sex and pornography addiction, created the inner child recovery process to help people struggling with addiction.
Eddie's father died when he was five and his mother who was left with four children had a nervous breakdown. All kids were then sent out to relatives they didn't even know and they stayed there for a year while she was recovering. Growing up, he found himself very isolated and developed an abandonment issue. With the early pain that he experienced with the loss of his father and his mother leaving him, Eddie was completely alone.
As early as 16 years old, Eddie felt he needed to have m…
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May 2, 2022
179: Cultivating Radical Intimacy with Zoe Kors
Intimacy is such a key part of healing from trauma and addiction. The more we can be intimate, the more we can heal, and the more we can walk through our suffering. Ultimately, we realize we’re not alone.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Zoe Kors, a sex and intimacy coach and the author of “Radical Intimacy: Cultivate the Deeply Connected Relationships You Desire and Deserve.” Zoe hosts The Radical Intimacy Podcast, which she launched in conjunction with the book to continue the conversation.
As a Zen practitioner, yoga practitioner, and lifelong meditator, Zoe learned how Eastern philosophies and practices lend themselves to alleviating loneliness and disconnection. Especially when the pandemic hit, there’s that whole new level of needing to navigate human connection as well as a new paradigm – and at the foundation of that is the connection with ourselves
We are taught to invest resources, time, energy, and money into things like financial stability, physical fitness…
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Apr 25, 2022
178: Living Undeterred with Jeff Johnston
It’s so easy to compare your own trauma with somebody else's trauma but trauma is trauma. You can have no kids and not be married, and put your dog down. And that can be just as traumatic as somebody who went through losing a child. All of our pain is unique to us and it's painful to us no matter what it is. But at the end of the day, we are all left with two roads – one is the road of anger, despair, and hatred and the other is a road of inspiration and motivation – which one are you going to take?
On this episode, Duane speaks with Jeff Johnston about his story of loss and grief, losing his eldest son and his wife to addiction, and having to deal with his own recovery from alcoholism.
Jeff was a functional alcoholic who has been drinking since he was in eighth grade. He was also a compulsive gambler for 15 years. But his pivot point in his life came in October 2016 when his 23-year-old son, Seth died from fentanyl poisoning and heroin overdose.
Jeff initially drank his way…
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Apr 18, 2022
177: UnAddicted to You: Loving Yourself Through the Darkness with Etel Leit
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Etel Leit, who talks about her own story of living with addiction – not her own addiction, but in her relationship – and how addiction doesn't just impact the person struggling with addiction, but also everyone around that person.
Addiction is not a one-person thing, but it's something that flows all over. It impacts the family, friends, bosses, and the people around them. Most often, too, addiction is looked at as a family disease.
There’s this idea of trying to change the addicted person and becoming obsessed with it, that they eventually lose their identity along the way and it brings about feelings of shame and embarrassment.
Therefore, part of the healing is not only looking into what goes into an addicted person’s mind, but also acknowledging what’s also going on in the mind of the person living next to the addict so then both parties can go through the healing journey together.
If you’re somebody living with a person…
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Apr 11, 2022
176: The Power of Psychedelics and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies with Ronan Levy
There’s a rising popularity in the field of psychedelics as it relates to addiction treatment and healing trauma. But aren’t psychedelics addictive?
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Ronan Levy, co-founder of Field Trip Health, a company with a mission to heal the sick and better the well through psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted therapies. Ronan explains the role of psychedelics in healing trauma and addiction treatment and recovery.
A trained lawyer by profession, Ronan hopped into the entrepreneurial world over 10 years ago and got an opportunity to start a business in the medical cannabis industry in Canada. Eventually, he discovered the role of psychedelics and since then, he has been committed to using this platform that opens up conversations to a whole new audience so he could reach more people in the hope that we can shift the conversation around mental health from a reactive place into something we do proactively.
Ronan initially thought that if he could get…
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Apr 4, 2022
175: Building Resiliency in Recovery with Caroline Beidler
On today's episode, Duane speaks with Caroline Beidler who shares her story and talks specifically about building resiliency and recovery, the importance of resiliency, especially when it relates to overcoming trauma, and how she discovered that process in her own life. Caroline also shares a few things that you can do in your life immediately to help build resilience.
Caroline's mental health recovery and addiction recovery were intertwined. She knew that if she wanted to thrive in her recovery, she had to heal her trauma and build resilience. Then a couple of years later, she decided to go back to school to become a social worker and help others who also seek recovery.
Caroline lived with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder for over 20 years. Caroline recalls experiencing panic attacks, anxiety, and depression triggered by her experiences of being in a room full of men. She struggled more with disordered eating and was in very unhealthy and emotionally abusive relationships. A…
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Mar 28, 2022
174: How Peer Recovery Support Changed His Course with Justin Larson
On this episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Justin Larson, the director of health systems for Thrive Peer Recovery, as he shares his story about his alcoholism and recovery.
Justin was diagnosed with depression at the young age of eight. He was feeling fearful and anxious all the time until that time he picked up a drink and it just made all of those go away. At that moment, he fell in love with alcohol. Soon, it became his best friend that later controlled his life.
Drinking became his number one coping mechanism. For him, it was the missing link to life, having found the one thing that enabled him to cope with life. From about the age of 15 to 32, what started out as this magic elixir that gave him the courage and made him feel whole, slowly turned into a necessity that he couldn’t go without. Alcohol slowly turned down on him.
It reached a point in Justin’s life where he ran out of options for dealing with all his pain. He found himself in such a dark place…
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Mar 21, 2022
173: Worry Less Now with Gigi Langer
Anxiety and worry are things we all can struggle with at times and the core of those feelings is fear. But at some point, we have to realize we have our own loving power that’s bigger than our fear. And we need to claim that to free ourselves from the bondage of pain and lack of self-worth. The body sometimes knows how much you can handle – and if you're open enough, it'll give you what you need to keep growing.
On this episode, Duane talks to Gigi Langer about her award-winning book “50 Ways to Worry Less Now.” She takes us through her own recovery story, how worry and fear were a major part of it, and how she learned to overcome it and create the life that she loves and thrives in.
Growing up in a family with an alcoholic in the family, Gigi chose to be the "good girl." At 40, she was completing her Ph.D. at Stanford and was under a lot of stress and pressure. She had a lot of crash and burn relationships and had divorced twice by the time she was in her doctoral program. S…
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Mar 14, 2022
172: Reclaiming The Lost Languages with Brett Lavender, The Persuasive Lion
We're in the worst phase of human history where people are so stressed out, so afraid of judgment, and tentative as it relates to saying anything these days because of this “cancel culture” society.
We have lost an enormous amount of substance and the ability to effectively communicate our thoughts and emotions verbally, vocally, and physically because we’re afraid of the ramifications. But if we can just get back to our basics and start talking to each other as humans, we're going to be in a much better situation.
On today's episode, Duane speaks with keynote speaker and performance coach Brett Lavender about language communication and being the master of our own mind.
Brett is the Founder and CEO of Persuasive Lion, a speaking, training, and coaching practice based on The Lost Languages program that teaches people valuable techniques of persuasive verbal & non-verbal communication to help people lead better and exceed their personal and professional goals.
Brett’s fat…
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Mar 7, 2022
171: Addiction and His Personal Struggles in a Post-9/11 World with Shahjehan Khan
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Shahjehan Khan, a voiceover artist, actor, and musician based in Boston. He is the host of the King of the World podcast, which explores his life as a Pakistani American Muslim in the post-9/11 era, 20 years later. Shahjehan shares how he weaved his struggle with addiction to cannabis, how all of that came together for him, and how he got into recovery.
Son of Pakistani American immigrants, Shahjehan grew up as an average American young person in the suburbs of Massachusetts. When 9/11 happened, he remembers being a senior in high school, sitting in a calculus class. At that time, he was already a struggling teenager, which also marked the beginnings of heavy substance use. By the time he got to college, he dropped out after a year, came home, and had his first suicide attempt.
He was then introduced to AA, but it really didn’t resonate with him. He had a relapse a year after he joined a band. Until he realized he had to make that change. N…
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Mar 3, 2022
Bonus: Finding the Treatment That Works for You with David Poses
The stigma of addiction is so bad that people who are struggling with it choose to hide it. However, addiction is not the real problem, but rather the symptom of all these underlying hurts, pains, and suffering.
Today’s episode is a replay of an interview with David Poses, who recently passed away, in honor of his life and legacy. A writer, speaker, and activist, David was a tireless advocate for all who struggled with mental health or addiction issues. David is the author of The Weight of Air: A Story About the Lies of Addiction and the Truth of Recovery.
David struggled with addiction, which he chose to hide for a long time. After trying to find a treatment that worked for him, he soon discovered buprenorphine, an opioid used to treat opioid-use disorders, which also saved his life from heroin. David also realized that being sober only means abstaining from whatever it is you’re addicted to, while recovery happens only when you’ve healed the wounds that led you to addiction…
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Feb 28, 2022
170: Healing the Adult Child with Andrea Ashley
A lot of people are oblivious to recurring issues they encounter in life when those are actually the result of some unresolved childhood trauma manifesting in different ways. Whether it’s addiction, alcoholism, a toxic romantic relationship, a dysfunctional family, people-pleasing, impulsiveness, or you’re struggling with saying no – all these can be telltale signs of an inner wound that needs to be healed.
In this episode, Duane speaks with Andrea Ashley, host of The Adult Child Podcast, about her own journey of recovery and how she went deeper in recovery when she started to deal with her adult child issues. Andrea shares what it took her to finally find some deeper healing purpose and meaning in her life.
Andrea grew up in an alcoholic home and was the only child of an alcoholic mom and alcoholic dad. She turned to drugs and alcohol at 12 and became the focus of the family for the next seven years. She got sent to rehab for the first time in eighth grade. For seven years, she…
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Feb 21, 2022
169: Seeking Recovery Through Complementary Therapies with Constance Scharff
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Constance Scharff, co-author of Rock to Recovery: Music as a Catalyst for Human Transformation, and author of the award-winning poetry book, Meeting God at Midnight. They talk about other things you can do in your life to bring about recovery and create a meaningful, joyful life, specifically, through using music, meditation, and breathing to help heal from addiction and trauma.
Constance has a Ph.D. in transformative studies where she studies the nature of change and how the change occurs in an individual. Having been sober for more than 23 years now, Constance saw how people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan weren't getting sober and a lot of them were killing themselves. At that time, Constance was suicidally sober. And so, she thought there has to be a better treatment. She then changed the direction of her graduate studies and devoted her life to finding a better treatment – and there is!
Constance went…
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Feb 14, 2022
168: Living a Recovery Lifestyle with Tricia Parido
On this episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Tricia Parido, an international master addictions coach and a recovery lifestyle enthusiast. Passionate about helping people attain sober lifestyles so they can live free and fulfilled, Tricia established the Turning Leaves Recovery Life and Wellness Coaching.
Tricia has a 30-year story of addictions, negative attachments, and habits holding her hostage in life, and she also has a 25-year recovery journey because not everything was ready to recover at the same time. The last bit of her journey was getting rid of the alcohol and the benzodiazepines that really took her out.
Tricia started drinking at 12 and as she got older, she became an open daily drinker. She worked hard to be a high-functioning alcoholic so she could keep her daily drinking. In her early 30s, Tricia developed a generalized anxiety disorder. The doctor prescribed Xanax for her anxiety and it worked. But there's that feedback loop in taking things like…
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Feb 7, 2022
167: The Virtuous Cycle of Healing the Trauma with Serge Prengel
On this episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Serge Prengel, the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps for Mindful Recovery. They dive deep into the process of change and this concept of the virtuous cycle that creates a positive feedback loop in our lives so we can make the strategic change and create a meaningful life that feels good and is purposeful.
Serge is a therapist who's big on experiential or somatic psychotherapy. He believes that everybody is very different and every situation is very different. Serge talks about how you can be proactive in your approach, and over time, gradually step out of feeling stuck and powerless so you can enjoy a balanced and happy life.
Serge has had a long-term dialogue with the 12 Steps for the past 30 years, which he discovered through friends who were in recovery. He always admired the power of the 12-step culture, the idea of having a common path, and the community it has created. He admires the system where people can ha…
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Jan 31, 2022
166: Challenge What You Know About The War on Drugs with Benjamin Boyce
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with author Benjamin Boyce about his addiction story and how the war on drugs impacted his ability to better his life and live a meaningful life. The discussion dives deep into the war on drugs, how it can exacerbate the problems of addiction, and its impact on our society as a whole.
Benjamin is the author of Dr. Junkie: One Man's Story of Addiction and Crime That Will Challenge Everything You Know About the War on Drugs and the host of The Dr. Junkie Show.
Benjamin was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (now part of the autism spectrum). Studies in the last 5-10 years have shown that people with Asperger's or on the autism spectrum that use marijuana or other cannabis products show reduced social anxiety. However, he realized that criminality showed up right behind it because he had to hide the marijuana and not tell people about it. For him, becoming the bad guy was just self-fulfilling.
Like most of us, Benjamin grew up misinformed about d…
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Jan 24, 2022
165: Embracing Humanity: Meshing the Works of William James and AA’s Bill W. with Paul Schulte
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with Paul Schulte, the author of We Agnostics: How William James, Father of American Psychology, Advanced A Spiritual Solution to Addiction: How a Venerated Harvard Doctor Inspired the 12 Step Movement.
Paul is going to talk about Williams James's philosophy, what he brought to addiction treatment and addiction care, and how his work strongly influenced the work of Bill Wilson, founder of the 12-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous.
He talks about how William James was able to articulate the theme he saw in human change – something that has been talked about in religious circles and spirituality for over 3,000 years. It’s the theme of a person who is lost, feels broken, and ultimately is able to find serenity and calmness.
With a degree in drug and alcohol addiction counseling, Paul did an internship at the UCLA School of Medicine. There, he was drawn into what was going on with the different types of treatment and th…
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Jan 17, 2022
164: Pulling Yourself Out of the Vortex of Childhood Trauma with Michael Anthony
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Michael Anthony, author of Think Unbroken: Understanding and Overcoming Childhood Trauma. When you have a history of childhood trauma, there are things that you just have to unlearn and reframe. But to do that, you have to bring awareness to it.
When Michael was four years old, his mother, who was a drug addict and alcoholic, cut off his right index finger. His mother was a victim of abuse and his stepfather was highly abusive. Michael was in and out of the hospital multiple times. For the majority of his childhood, he was homeless and deeply in poverty. By the time he was 12 years old, he had lived with 30 different families. They were always getting bounced around, getting evicted, or getting their water and heat turned off.
Michael got high for the first time when he was 12 and drunk when he was 13. At 15 years old, he was expelled from school for selling drugs. He was put into the last chance program and still did not graduate high school o…
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Jan 10, 2022
163: Healing as a Family with Chris Howard
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Chris Howard, the founder of Ethos Recovery, a long-term recovery house for men. He’s also the founder of Lifestyle Interventions where he offers family intervention mentoring.
Chris shares his journey of addiction and recovery and his experience working with families, helping them deal with addiction, and helping them heal as a whole system. A Los Angeles native, Chris grew up in a home with a schizoaffective mother and ended up in foster care. As a young man, Chris turned to drugs and alcohol to help escape his troubles in life and thought that his rite of passage into adulthood was going to prison. Chris eventually became a drug addict and drug dealer. He was engaging in all this maladaptive behavior without anyone telling him anything. After more than a decade of struggling with addiction, Chris finally decided to change his course and help other people going through the same thing.
Now working in a helping field, Chris wants to help peop…
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Dec 27, 2021
161: Healing Intergenerational Trauma with Wendy Adamson
How do you heal from addiction and alcoholism that you created? You may impact others through your addiction but you can also impact them through your recovery and healing. On today’s episode, Duane talks with Wendy Adamson, author of Mother Load and Incorrigible, about intergenerational trauma and how that impacts addiction recovery, getting better, mental health, relationships, and more.
As a teen, Wendy was labeled as incorrigible which is defined as, "not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed.” That's what the justice system called her. They pretty much gave up on her and put her into the system. Wendy was taken away from her father, plucked from her life, and put in a juvenile hall. From there, she went to foster homes with different environments that nobody ever questioned. Nobody was asking about her or what she had been through. She was locked up not just physically but also mentally.
Unfortunately, there is still a lack of trauma-informed language for kids going…
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Dec 20, 2021
160: Transferring Your Grit From Addiction to Your Recovery with Mike Grant
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Mike Grant about his recovery story and how he used running as a tool to help him through his recovery process.
Mike currently works in the health care system as a licensed clinical social worker. He primarily works with people stuck in addiction. He’s an alcohol and drug counselor and the author of (Re)Making A Sandwich: An Addiction Case Study. As a lover of ultra marathons, Mike started a local running club for people in recovery and they have organized runs and done races together.
Mike grew up with some anger issues as a result of things that happened in his home. He started drinking at 13 years old and thought it would help him for many years. Instead, drinking at such a young age stunted his emotional development. He lacked the emotional skill set he needed to make good decisions in his life.
Part of Mike’s story was being a habitual DUI offender. After being placed on county probation due to multiple DUI offenses, Mike finally rea…
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Dec 13, 2021
159: Feeling Your Feelings and Being Okay With It with Justin B. Long
On today’s episode, Duane talks with Justin B. Long about his journey through childhood trauma and how he tried to escape it through alcoholism. We discuss the traps of toxic masculinity, the idea that, as men, we can't share our feelings. We can't be vulnerable. We should be stoic at all times. In the episode, you’ll learn how that idea prevents us from being able to heal from our past wounds. Justin shares his story of hope and healing for everyone else out there who's struggling with the same issues.
Justin is the author of The Righteous Rage of a Ten-Year-Old Boy: A Journey of Self-Discovery. In his book, he talks about uncovering our deeper feelings by addressing childhood events and traumas and changing how our emotions are tied to those memories. Justin has poured his deepest, darkest secrets into the book. As he pointed out, the more sunshine gets on those secrets, the less power they have over him.
As he was trying to recover from alcoholism in his mid-30's, Justin h…
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Dec 6, 2021
158: The Science of Addiction with Gill Tietz
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Gill Tietz, a biochemist and the host of the Sober Powered Podcast. Gill shares her alcohol addiction journey, the connection between our brain chemistry and addiction, and how she used her knowledge of science to achieve sobriety, change her way of thinking, and ultimately change her life.
Gill had her first drink at 18 years old and, after feeling shame and guilt, she decided not to drink anymore after that. Four years later, when she was at grad school, she started drinking with her colleagues. Having dealt with bullying and trauma early in life, Gill just wanted to fit in. Once she had just one drink, she thought it was magic and the best feeling in the world. Best of all, she finally felt included.
Within a year, she became a daily drinker. Drinking was a huge part of the culture of the lab she worked at so she thought it was normal behavior. By the second year, she was drinking a lot more with 80% or more alco…
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Nov 29, 2021
157: Personality Isn’t Permanent with Benjamin Hardy
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with author Benjamin Hardy about his personal experience with addiction and the chaos that comes along with it. Benjamin describes the process overcoming his own addictions involved going through a “redemptive process,” which involved forgiving his father and rebuilding the relationship there. With trauma, you’re always looking in the rear-view mirror, but you need to make meaning going forward. Meaning is not going to strike you—you have to make it yourself. The beauty of this is that you can change the meaning of your past, Benjamin says. It’s key to have empathy for your old self.
Benjamin also talks about how writing about your trauma can really help. Turning away from the past, you can have hope for the future. Without a hope for the future, Benjamin says, the present becomes meaningless. You can also choose to ascribe a meaning to your past. We call it “meaning-making,” Benjamin says. Part of bec…
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Nov 22, 2021
156: Breaking Alcohol Addiction Through Medical and Psychosocial Interventions with Dr. Joseph Volpicelli
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Dr. Joseph Volpicelli, a world-renowned scientist clinician whose research led to the discovery of naltrexone (a drug that treats alcohol addiction) among many other discoveries related to addiction treatment.
Today, he talks about how naltrexone can help someone struggling with alcohol addiction reduce their cravings. With the help of naltrexone as one of the tools in their toolkit of recovery, people can now start to build a meaningful, purposeful life. They also talk about the importance of the other component: not just the medical intervention, but also the psychosocial interventions for recovery.
Dr. Volpicelli has been interested in addiction treatment and research for 40 years now. Such interest started when he was a medical student working with individuals who were returning from Vietnam who had developed an alcohol addiction. Many of them were using opiates but when they came back to the United States, th…
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Nov 15, 2021
155: Healing Through Plant-Based Medicine and Deconstructing Our Belief System with Howard Lipp
On today's episode, Duane speaks with Howard Lipp about the recovery he experienced after coming up against a wall that he couldn't move. He also shares about the experience he had in rehab that led him to do some work with psychedelics. This enabled him to transcend and find a way out of his suffering and pain.
Howard jumped into the world of recovery in 2002 after hitting a wall with drugs and alcohol which he describes as impenetrable. He later realized he had a callous on his forehead from running into the same wall for such a long time without realizing it. Although he wasn't actively suicidal, he no longer wanted to live the way he was living.
Therefore, he went through a Pavlovian conditioning program that worked for a while. The problem was that it didn't solve the internal conflict he had within him: his feelings of worthlessness and all the pain he carried from his past of abuse and bullying.
Howard went through most of his life believing there was something foundationally…
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Nov 8, 2021
154: Mastering Recovery with Barry Lehman
Getting through the first two years of recovery can be extremely difficult. Just when you think you've gone as far as you can go, you realize you’re only at the beginning. You need to develop the skill set to master recovery and live your best life.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Barry Lehman about achieving long-term recovery or recovery after the first two years of sobriety. They specifically talk about what that looks like and how we can gain mastery so we can live our best life and find joy and happiness in recovery.
Barry is a retired pastor and has been sober for 33 years now. While he was in ministry as a parish pastor, he discovered he was an alcoholic. He went into a treatment program and stayed in the ministry for another 11 years after getting sober. He also got his Doctor of Ministry in Counseling and got his license as an Alcohol and Drug Counselor which he has served as part-time for 28 years now.
Through his recovery journey, Barry learned how to be healthy…
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Nov 1, 2021
153: Healing From Eating Disorder with Faith Elicia
On today's episode, Duane talks with Faith Elicia about her nine-year journey through an eating disorder. They discuss how she struggled several times to get help and how she finally found something that worked for her. They also talk about what helped her deal with not only her eating disorder but also with her anxiety, depression, and family history of addiction and family dysfunction. Faith's story provides a lot of hope that, even when you feel at your worst and like you can't go on, there's still hope out there.
Faith comes from an addictive household, being a child of an alcoholic. She used to believe that all dads yelled. She was scared of all fathers and generalized that all dads are mean. At 16, Faith saw her dad drunk for the first time, throwing a chair while she was hiding under the table. Then, he sought help and got sober for 30 years until his death three years ago.
She also has a sister who found recovery in Narcotics Anonymous and another sister who found recovery in…
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Oct 25, 2021
152: Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model with Jan Winhall
On today's episode, Duane speaks with Jan Winhall, the author of Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model: A Bottom-Up Approach. Jan's book is a combination of over 40 years of working with trauma and addiction and reflecting on how to bring an embodied approach to addiction treatment.
We currently understand trauma and addiction from more of a top-down cognitive approach. For example, the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, sees it through a pathologizing lens. When Jan started her work, she was fresh out of graduate school where she got assigned to run a group for young women who were incest survivors. Early on, it taught her how to understand addiction through the nervous system.
As feminist therapists, they were very curious about using new models because they felt the current models were misogynistic. Instead of helping women feel empowered, they did the opposite. They were shocked to see how these women who were viewed as victims of violence…
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Oct 18, 2021
151: Understanding The Trauma Map with Dr. Karol Darsa
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Dr. Karol Darsa about how to recognize trauma as well as some of the first steps you need to take to deal with trauma. Karol is the author of the book, The Trauma Map: Five Steps to Reconnect With Yourself. She dives deep into how trauma impacts us in our everyday life as well as what we can do to deal with our traumatic histories so we can heal and feel better.
If you have struggled with some trauma in your past, hopefully you will get a lot of insights from this episode as Karol shares her professional wisdom on recovering from trauma. A licensed psychologist for 23 years, Karol found herself repeating certain information over and over again. She realized what was really missing in a lot of people's minds was the understanding of what trauma is and what it does. Maybe they knew what trauma was but didn't understand that it could impact them to the degree that it was impacting them.
Many people think trauma only applies to people who have been…
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Oct 11, 2021
150: Addiction in the Healthcare Community with Dr. Michael Tkach
We cannot overstate the impact this pandemic has had on our healthcare providers. When you think about all the stress and pressures these front-liners are going through day in and day out, you can see how a lot of aspects are playing in that are leading to clinical burnout and, ultimately, addiction. Yet, we need to recognize that this is just a part of a larger system that's going on in the individual.
On this episode, Duane talks with clinical psychologist Michael Tkach as he shares about addiction and other issues that healthcare workers are facing during these COVID times. A clinical psychologist by training, Michael is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Behavioral Health Officer for Affinity Empowering, a technology-based solutions provider that supports overall health and wellness endeavors and that has also become a major provider of COVID-19 testing.
Michael recently conducted research on medical care providers who are providing care to individuals diagnosed with terminal il…
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Oct 4, 2021
149: Sailing Through Recovery with David Greer
Entrepreneurs and high-performing individuals are highly persistent and driven. Oftentimes, they are in control as they push themselves to success. They look really good on the outside. However, when they have an undercurrent of hurt and pain that is never expressed or paid attention to, they’re also likely to numb out from the pain through alcohol, drugs, sex, or something else.
Let’s add to that the fact that drinking is pretty normalized in Canada, the US, and Western Europe. It’s even more normalized in many businesses as their way of closing deals. Unfortunately, we need to understand the progressive nature of this disease.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with David Greer, an entrepreneur, author, and coach who shares about his own recovery journey, specifically from the perspective of being a successful entrepreneur.
David was a high-functioning alcoholic who had a difficult time recognizing that he had an issue with alcohol. For decades, he was in denial because he ha…
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Sep 27, 2021
148: Bridging the Gap Between Spirituality and Humanity with Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati
On today's episode, Duane speaks with spiritual leader and author Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati. In her book Hollywood to the Himalayas, she shares the journey of her transformation from trauma and abuse to healing and freedom. Her hope is to bring people into the natural state of freedom, peace, and joy and, ultimately, free people from suffering, pain, and addiction.
Although Sadhvi has written other books on her teachings, she reveals that this was the first time she shared her actual full story – uncensored, raw, deep, vulnerable, honest, and genuine. She decided to write the book after seeing how critical it is to bridge spirituality and humanity at this time when too many people are in the throes of human struggle, including addiction.
Sadhvi grew up in Hollywood. She lived a privileged life, had access to the best education, and graduated from Stanford University. And yet, as everyone with addiction understands, something was bubbling beneath the surface.
At an early age, Sadhv…
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Sep 20, 2021
147: How to Sit in Your Adult Chair to Become the Most Authentic Version of Yourself with Michelle Chalfant
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Michelle Chalfant, host of The Adult Chair Podcast, about being our best selves by sitting in the adult chair and how our adult self can help us navigate all parts of our trauma, inner child, and ego. Michelle gives practical advice that can help you move forward in your life in a way that will create meaning and purpose.
A therapist and coach, Michelle currently does coaching certification and workshops based on the Adult Chair Model, which was a culmination and combination of several teachers she has worked with over the last 25 years.
The Adult Chair Model is a manual for life. It helps you learn how to feel your emotions, something that many of us have not been taught to do well. Michelle says that a lot of us know how to be physically healthy and have a good understanding of that. However, when it comes to emotional health, humans aren't great at it. Learning how to live as a healthy adult is the touchstone of The Adult Chair Model. When y…
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Sep 9, 2021
146: Understanding Behavioral Addiction with Amanda Giordano
There are a lot of negative consequences that can come from behavioral addictions. They include everything from financial problems to legal repercussions to health issues. Whether it’s gambling, gaming, sex, or pornography, it’s important to understand why some people are susceptible to certain behaviors. In fact, the same mechanism that influences chemical addiction could be responsible for behavioral addiction as well.
On this episode, Duane speaks with Amanda Giordano, a licensed professional counselor and associate professor at the University of Georgia, who specializes in addiction counseling both in chemical addiction and behavioral addiction. Amanda is the author of a clinical reference book titled A Clinical Guide to Treating Behavioral Addictions.
Today, she imparts her expertise in this field, explaining how the changes in the brain associated with behavioral addictions are actually very similar to the changes associated with chemical addictions.
In other words, inste…
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Sep 6, 2021
145: Achieving Recovery Through The Wolf You Feed with Sophie Aghdami
Sophie Aghdami is an addiction recovery coach in Australia. Today, she shares her own story of recovery from alcoholism as well as how a particular parable helped change her whole perspective on recovery, find success in healing, and create a thriving life.
Sophie grew up in Switzerland and the UK and moved to Australia just two years ago. Her drinking started as an early teen. In the UK, it’s a cultural thing to start drinking early or at least be around it a lot. It was just the norm for Sophie. She also worked at a pub surrounded by people who were always drinking and, as she went through university, she stayed in that line of work.
Sophie then started managing restaurants. She loved this job but it was very stressful and the hours were long. As a result, drinking became her coping and stress-release mechanism. She began drinking earlier and earlier in the day until it became her brain's reaction to cope with stressful situations.
Eventually, Sophie realized that drinking was no…
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Aug 30, 2021
144: The Journey Through Alcoholism and Recovery with Charlie Gray
On today’s episode, Duane talks with Charlie Gray about his journey of hope and resiliency through his toxic relationship with vodka and the one thing that allowed him to stay sober.
In his memoir, At Least I’m Not The Frog: A Zany Memoir of Alcoholism & Recovery, Charlie Gray tells his story of being a recovering alcoholic sharing his experience of addiction, relapse, and recovery.
Living as a high-functioning alcoholic for 11 years, his plan was to keep his job, make some good money, and just drink his way through. This went on until, physically, he could no longer do so. The way he puts it is, “You can only drink a gallon and a half of vodka every day or so for so long before even a young man's body begins to shut down.”
The root cause behind such a behavior was his early childhood trauma from losing his mother. He was so focused on creating a life of purpose in honor of his mother that he never dreamed addiction would be something on the table for him. But then began 11 y…
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Aug 23, 2021
143: A Hope to Put an End to the Opioid Epidemic with Robert Kanter
In this episode, Duane speaks with Robert Kanter, an international recovery advocate addressing the opioid epidemic. Today, he talks about his advocacy work with the opioid epidemic. He also tells his own story of recovery from alcohol and substance use disorders and how his daughter's struggles became the genesis of his advocacy work.
In 2020, overdose fatalities hit 93,000 in the US. This was a record-breaking amount with COVID exacerbating the existing opioid crisis. It was an epidemic within the pandemic. Just to give you context of how serious this problem is, Robert says that we lost more people last year to overdose fatalities than we lost in the entire Vietnam War.
Robert is in recovery from alcohol use disorder and substance use disorder and has now been sober for many years. Three years ago, his daughter almost overdosed on opiates and heroin, locked in an apartment with a drug-dealing boyfriend. Now, she just celebrated three years of sobriety.
As a father, Robert felt compl…
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Aug 16, 2021
142: Healing Early Trauma Through Somatic Experiencing and Brainspotting with Andrew Susskind
We have to work and deal with our internal and early trauma. This can be more difficult to see and process without a reliable, trustworthy “other” in our lives. Sometimes it even takes an expert who can walk us through that journey in order for us to get to that safe space for healing and recovery.
Today, Duane talks with Andrew Susskind about his book, It's Not About the Sex: Moving from Isolation to Intimacy after Sexual Addiction. They go into depth about attachment, emotional regulation, the need for reliable people to heal your traumatic wounds, and how we can do that when we're in recovery and still struggling with internal chaos.
Andrew is a licensed clinical social worker, a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, a Brainspotting practitioner, and a certified group psychotherapist. The book is Andrew's passion project where he wrote about themes that have been on his mind for three decades now. Since then, so much has changed in the mental health field as well as the addicti…
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Aug 9, 2021
141: Pregnancy and Addiction with Dr. Charles Schauberger
Patients with substance use disorder have every right to be pregnant and have children as much as anyone else. Some people look at it as being irresponsible but who are we to judge? In fact, our guest today explains how certain medications for substance use disorders could have played a part in improving the hormonal milieu of patients enough that a pregnancy might occur.
On this episode, Duane speaks with Dr. Charles Schauberger, an OB/GYN and Addiction Medicine doctor who specializes in helping women who are struggling with substance use disorder go through pregnancy. This is an issue that doesn't get talked about or thought about a lot unless someone is in this situation.
A strong advocate for addiction treatment and compassionate care, Charles shares his story of getting into this specialty and how women dealing with substance use disorder can have a very healthy and successful pregnancy if they’re given the right support.
His motivation for helping these women comes from rec…
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Aug 2, 2021
140: Stop Hiding and Start Healing with Craig Brown
What happens when your pain is greater than your fears? On this episode, Duane speaks with Recovery Pastor Craig Brown and author of the book, Stop Hiding, Start Healing.
Craig shares his recovery journey coming out of an abusive, dysfunctional family and how he peeled off the layers of his pain, shame, and guilt, and finally found freedom again once he decided to surrender and give his life over to Christ-centered recovery. One of the striking things Craig also mentioned during this interview is that people think recovery is about addiction and about the drug addict, but recovery is about restoring souls.
Growing up, Craig was feeling the pressure of having a dad who was a pastor, being in an environment where they were forced to fake it so his dad would look good in public. But the man he saw standing in the pulpit was entirely different than the one he saw at home. He had a lot of demons within him as well as a lot of struggles that he took out on Craig and his siblings.
So at a…
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Jul 28, 2021
139: Stepping Into the Recovery Elevator with Paul Churchill
Addictions are many things. But to simplify, they represent parts of our personalities that are out of balance. They represent a part of our body, mind, soul, or spirit that needs a lot of attention and that perhaps was neglected in childhood. As we continue using external substances, these imbalances get louder and louder until they have to be dealt with. Eventually, we get stuck in a cycle of shame and guilt that leads to hopelessness.
On this episode, Duane speaks with Paul Churchill, the host and founder of Recovery Elevator. In 2015, Paul launched the podcast, which he thought was a risky move having only been six months sober from alcohol. It was a calculated gamble that actually saved his life. Now, it has opened a lot of doors for him to meet great people and impact other people’s lives.
Paul was a normal drinker for about seven years since he was 15 years old. Soon, he found how the drug alcohol let him overcome his insecurities and fears in early childhood. At 22, after he…
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Jul 19, 2021
138: From the Perspective of an Addict’s Loved One: Transmuting Pain Into Service with KL Wells
When we are in deep pain or we have these hardships in our life, we have to learn how to transmute them and turn them into something different – not just overcoming it. As for KL Wells, she decided to transmute her pain into service by helping others whose loved ones are struggling with addiction.
KL is a businesswoman and she has a 30-year-old son who is a recovering addict. Through the course of her life, she has lived the generational story around addiction, not struggling with addiction herself, but being able to see addiction from a different perspective. Her mom was addicted to prescription medications, which was something popular back in those days. Then she had a brother who was addicted to cocaine. She married an alcoholic and divorced, and had her son out of that marriage. She subsequently remarried a recovering alcoholic of 28 years.
Seeing her son being arrested at gunpoint and who was yelling at her to save him was a very traumatic experience for her. In that moment, e…
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Jul 12, 2021
137: Understanding Sugar Addiction with Mike Collins
For most people who get into recovery, at some point, food and sugar become an issue in their life. It serves as a secondary feel-good mechanism when they're not feeling great. But why is sugar so appealing? Why do some people struggle so much with it that it causes problems in their life?
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with Mike Collins about the science behind sugar addiction and how it negatively impacts people in recovery. When Mike got sober, he went right back to sugar in massive amounts and a lot of people in recovery do that. Completely sugar-free for over 30 years now, Mike is the Chairman of the Board of a Food Addiction Institute that helps raise awareness about processed food and sugar worldwide. He is the founder of SugarAddiction.com which has been helping thousands successfully quit sugar for over nine years.
Mike talks about the concept of an emotional management system where we are literally managing our emotions with a ubiquitous, al…
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Jul 9, 2021
136: Overcoming Addiction in the Restaurant Industry with Mickey Bakst
Being in the restaurant industry, serving alcohol is such a big part of it. It’s intended to create an experience, just like the food, music, and the interior of the space. But if you're struggling with alcohol or drugs, it would be such a hard industry to be in because you're going to be around those all the time.
In fact, about 17% to 24% of restaurant workers around the country have issues with alcohol and drugs. And that’s because it’s the only industry where drinking and drugging have become the norm. They’ve created that kind of atmosphere where it's widely accepted and readily available.
Our guest today is Mickey Bakst, the co-founder of Ben’s Friends, a recovery community dedicated to helping struggling addicts in the food and beverage industry find sobriety and seek recovery and support – without having to give up their lives and their careers.
At the forefront of what they do is creating a community of people who not only understand the addiction, but unders…
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Jun 23, 2021
135: Microdosed Mindfulness with Janet Fouts
Mindfulness – everybody hears about it and they have all kinds of ideas of what mindfulness is. A lot of times, they think it's this really complicated thing and that you have to do the whole kung fu thing to be mindful. But you don't have to.
On today’s episode, Duane carries an inspiring conversation with Janet Fouts, the author of Microdosed Mindfulness.
Janet devolved into depression when her partner was diagnosed with cancer. She found it hard to handle things well, considering how she had to take care of her partner while also running her business. As her way of numbing the pain, she began to drink a lot and tried a few drugs. She found it hard to get out of it but she knew she had to stop.
She ended up going to a mindfulness-based stress reduction course, a weekend retreat that blew her mind and led her to learn about mindfulness and dive deep into studying, quitting her job, and becoming a teacher.
Janet identifies self-judgment as the biggest hurdle of a person’s mindf…
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Jun 16, 2021
134: Productive Intuition - Paying Attention to the Subtle with AdaPia d'Errico
Our guest today is AdaPia d'Errico and she is going to talk about intuition and paying attention to our authentic self. Her book is titled Productive Intuition: Connecting To The Subtle.
Often, our intuition and our authentic self can be very subtle and difficult to pay attention to, especially if we've struggled with trauma and hardship.
AdaPia is really passionate about her work, sharing her story, and sharing her wisdom.
Her Story
AdaPia was at a point in her life where she was so completely lost and essentially went through a spiritual crisis. Everything she knew how to do was not working. She completely lost her marbles. She didn't have anybody to talk to.
She was prejudging herself before even going into something new. What life or the universe or God delivered to her was just failure. Her whole identity fell apart and, in that process, she realized it wasn't actually failure; it was a different door she had to go through to get clarity and trust herself.
Her book comes o…
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Jun 8, 2021
133: Neurosurgery and Poetry with Paul Kaloostian
Why is addiction so hard to control? Does that mean addiction can’t be treated? On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks to Dr. Paul Kaloostian.
Dr. Paul Kaloostian is a neurosurgeon in Los Angeles as well as an author. His books include The Young Neurosurgeon: Lessons from My Patients and two different poetry books, From The Eyes Of A Doctor and My Surgical Cases Told In Poems.
As a neurosurgeon for 17 years now, Dr. Kaloostian has dealt with thousands of cases of people with neurological conditions. Seeing the need for awareness of mental health, he took a poetic approach to his books to make it easier for the world to understand what it’s like for patients who are going through neurological conditions, some of which are caused or aggravated by addiction.
On today's episode, he talks about the brain, his patients, and why we do some of the things we do even when we don't necessarily want to do them.
No one wants to be addicted. But the brain is such a…
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May 31, 2021
132: Peer Recovery Specialists with Kabir Singh
People going through addiction recovery deal with feelings of shame, guilt, and unworthiness that no one else can understand unless they’ve gone through a similar situation. However, if someone comes to them at their level, they can automatically pull some of that shame away. This is where peer specialists can help people through addiction treatment and recovery.
Today’s guest is Kabir Singh, the CEO and Founder of Fresh Start Recovery Center and the Chief Operating Officer for Amatus Health. He talks about his journey through recovery and how he’s also helping others get the treatment they need and find healing in the process, all with human connection at its core.
Kabir began gravitating towards substance abuse at an early age, not realizing he had a need for help that went unnoticed. Struggling at school, he always felt he wasn’t good enough and that he couldn’t measure up. He thought resorting to substance abuse was the only thing he was capable of doing. After getting…
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May 25, 2021
131: Relationships Made Easy with Abby Medcalf
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with relationship maven Abby Medcalf. Abby is a psychologist, author, podcast host, and a TEDx speaker. Abby is the author of the #1 Amazon best-selling book, Be Happily Married: Even If Your Partner Won't Do A Thing and host of the top-rated Relationships Made Easy Podcast.
Abby is in long-term recovery from heroin. She was very functional and very good at hiding it for many years. Along her journey of recovery, she got a business degree and eventually started counseling her colleagues and helping them improve their relationships. That marked the beginning of her beautiful journey from self-recovery to helping people recover in life and relationships. Abby has helped thousands of people think differently so they can create connection, ease, and joy in their relationships. With over 30 years of experience, Abby is a recognized authority and sought-after speaker at organizations such as Google, Apple, AT&T, Kaiser, PG&E, A…
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May 17, 2021
130: Funky Brain with Dennis Berry
What most people don't realize about addiction, whether it’s to alcohol, drugs, shopping, overeating, or porn, is that it’s not the core of the problem. The addicted person just uses it to cope with their real problem: their addicted mind or funky brain. For recovery to happen, people need to change their thinking to grow to new levels of awareness.
On this episode, Duane talks with Dennis Berry, the author of Funky Wisdom: A Practical Guide to Life and the host of The Funky Brain Podcast. He has been sober since April 8, 2003 and now has expertise in life mastery. During the time since 2003, he became a successful businessman, athlete, and family man. His journey and recovery helped him find his mission in life: to help others achieve inner peace, success, and mastery in every area of their lives.
Dennis knows what it's like to be helpless and hopeless with no positive direction. He was able to climb out of the gutter and transform his life so now he spends his life helping othe…
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May 11, 2021
129: Love Without Martinis with Chantal Jauvin
When a partner has a substance use disorder, there's a lot of mistrust. There's a lot of lying and hiding which damages the intimacy, connection, and faith in the relationship. Afterward, all of that has to be repaired.
On today’s episode, Duane talks with international corporate attorney Chantal Jauvin about her journey to recovery as a partner of someone with a substance abuse disorder.
As an international corporate attorney with expertise in trade law and financial services, Chantal has worked with Fortune 500 companies from around the world, dealing with matters from free trade zone manufacturing in Costa Rica to fast-moving consumer goods in Europe. Her work has allowed her to travel to different places including Cambodia, Russia, and Vienna.
Chantal's journey of recovery started by meeting the man that she fell in love with (who eventually became her husband). Soon, she found out about his dark secret: he was a functional alcoholic. She was not aware that he was struggling with…
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May 3, 2021
128: When Crisis Strikes with Dr. Jennifer Love
You could be suffering from chronic stress without knowing it. Alternatively, you might know it but are just so used to it that you think it’s normal. Well, it’s not normal. You have to act on it before it takes a toll on your health and happiness.
We have many different stressors in life. The human alarm is in the brain but we are wired to ignore it because we're wired for fight or flight. Humans evolved but, like other creatures, we used to live in caves or under trees. We had to know where the bears and wolves were. We had to be on guard against predators. As humans moved into cities and suburbs, most of us didn't have those worries but our brains haven't caught up. The alarm system hasn't evolved. It still sends chemicals throughout the body that lead to chronic stress.
Chronic stress has various symptoms, including weight loss, weight gain, sugar cravings, salt cravings, disrupted sleep, fatigue, and muscle tension. Some people escape into alcohol, drugs, pornography, video…
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Apr 26, 2021
127: Healing Beyond Recovery with Mike Govoni
Addiction is a response to pain and trauma. Reaching out and making yourself vulnerable is challenging when you've been traumatized. You may not trust people and you may not trust the process. So what needs to be done to discharge the trauma off your body and break free from the symptoms – addiction being one of them?
In this episode, Duane talks with Mike Govoni, an integrative holistic recovery coach who specializes in healing not only addiction but trauma as well. He has extensive experience in helping addicts overcome trauma and free themselves from addiction, a path that he has walked personally.
Mike was traumatized in utero, which led to his early-onset illness in long-term recovery. This set him up for addiction. As a result of childhood trauma, pain, and suffering, Mike escaped through alcohol and drugs at an early age. He smoked his first joint at 11. By the time he was 18 years old, he got addicted to oxycontin – the first substance that took his soul out of him. He h…
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Apr 19, 2021
126: Healing Your Narrative with Andrew Hahn
You’ve probably heard of someone who’s suffered from chronic pain, gone to doctors, ran all the tests necessary, and surprisingly, none of the doctors could actually diagnose the problem.
Andrew Hahn, Founder of Life Centered Therapy, joins today’s episode to explain how chronic pain, limiting beliefs, and even addictions are not physical in nature, but energetic.
Hahn is a licensed clinical psychologist who received his A.B. Magna Cum Laude in Social Studies/Psychology from Harvard University and his Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from Hahnemann University. He is certified by Helen Palmer to teach the Enneagram and has also been a faculty member in the graduate Counseling Programs at Lesley University and Northeastern University.
On this episode, Andrew talks about regressions, past lives, and changing our internalized narrative. He shares how our symptoms and suffering are an invitation for awareness, integrations, and mastery of experiences that we have yet been unable t…
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Apr 8, 2021
125: One Day at a Time with Arlina Allen
You could be raised by parents who are very nice people and they may not have any drinking or drug use issues. They could be super religious. But that doesn’t guarantee it’s going to save you from drug addiction or alcoholism. It's perfectly acceptable to ask for prayers if somebody is sick. But what happens when you do a repeated bad behavior that you can't seem to control?
As children, we don’t really have the power to change our environment that has been created by adults. We have been taught to be fundamentally flawed and that we are all sinners. And sometimes, when our brains have been wired that way, it naturally brings feelings of guilt, shame, and pain – that the only way to numb those is resorting to addiction.
On today’s episode, Duane talks to Arlina Allen, host of The One Day at a Time podcast and creator of the Sober Life School.
Arlina Allen has been sober since 1994 after living a wild life of drugs, alcohol, and sex. Her tagline at the time was – “If i…
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Apr 1, 2021
124: Confident Sober Women with Shelby John
Recovery is not one size fits all. It is also not a one-and-done situation. Rather, recovery is a process and a journey.
When someone gets sober and begins recovery, they are just starting to walk down the path of healing. Many of their previous feelings and temptations may continue to come up. However, they are gradually learning the tools they need to stay on their new path.
Shelby John is passionate about helping people who are in this stage of recovery. She is the host of the Confident Sober Women podcast and the founder of the Facebook group by the same name. Shelby particularly loves to work with women who struggle with substances by helping them control their minds and bodies and build confidence, using everything she has learned in her own recovery.
In this episode, you will hear:
Shelby’s mental health and addiction story.
What being self-centered really means.
The problem with hiding and inauthenticity in our culture.
The eye-opening moment for Shelby in her alcoh…
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Mar 26, 2021
123: The Weight of Air with David Poses
Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. That cliche is true even (and sometimes especially) when dealing with addiction.
Today’s guest is a prime example. David Poses is the author of The Weight of Air: A Story About the Lies of Addiction and the Truth of Recovery. In this memoir, David covers his heroin addiction and how he used buprenorphine to help him overcome it.
Throughout the show, David is sharing about the struggles he encountered when trying to find treatment. Many methods that were common at the time weren’t working for him until he finally found a doctor that would prescribe him buprenorphine. That is what saved his life from heroin.
Based on his experience, David has amazing insight into addiction treatment and some of the real issues surrounding how it is viewed today. Tune in to hear it all.
In this episode, you will hear:
How David’s struggle with depression led him to seek out heroin.
One of the biggest misunderstandings of mental health.
Why we need t…
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Mar 18, 2021
122: Miracles of Recovery with Harriet Hunter
When we’ve had trauma in our life, we can get really disconnected from our emotions. We don’t know how to express them or how to use them. Often, we turn to the only thing that we think will work: a substance or behavior that helps us escape or avoid those emotions.
However, what if we tried something different? Journaling has grown in popularity over the past few years. People have found its power as a method of getting their emotions down onto a page and helping them see their lives a little differently.
Today’s guest used journaling in this exact way to help her recover from addiction. Harriet Hunter is the author of the daily devotional book Miracles of Recovery. Today, Harriet is sharing her compelling story of moving out of addiction, experiencing incredible loss, and continuing to move forward despite it all. Join our conversation to hear more.
In this episode, you will hear:
Harriet’s hardships in childhood that led to her addiction.
When and how she began recove…
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Mar 11, 2021
121: Actions in Recovery with Wanja Joy
Hiding--many addicts do it. It’s what keeps them locked in prisons of guilt and shame. It’s how they convince even themselves that they don’t have a problem. It’s the very thing that prevents them from getting the help that they so desperately need.
Today’s guest, Wanja Joy, has experience with hiding. She hid her alcohol addiction from everyone in her life. Even after she reached out for help and started seeing a therapist, she hid her struggle with alcohol from him.
However, today she is the host of Wanja on Air: Actions in Recovery. On her podcast, she shares her story of struggling with alcohol and how she used it to cover up. She tells how she eventually overcame her guilt, shame, and perfectionism and reached out for help. Wanja changed her life and now brings that change to others.
Wanja is just a genuine spirit who wants to bring joy to other people, so tune in to hear our incredible conversation about her story of recovery.
In this episode, you will hear:
All abou…
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Mar 4, 2021
120: Down The Rabbit Hole with Kate Russell
Addiction is often the result of pain in our early years of life. Whether it’s passed down through genetics or an attempt to escape the pain, many addicts can point to a hard childhood as the source of their addiction. This is why it’s so important to recognize our family patterns and root out the disease of addiction while we still can.
Today’s guest, Kate Russell, grew up in just such an unhealthy environment. She was physically abused as a child and was raised by an alcoholic mother. However, she now holds amazing compassion as a result of having worked through her trauma and eventual addiction.
Kate is now the author of Down The Rabbit Hole, a memoir of abuse, addiction, and recovery. Getting to read her book, hear her story, and then talk to her on the other side of it all was amazing. Kate inspired me and I think she will do the same for all of you. Tune in to hear all about her book and how she not only endured but grew through her difficult life experiences.
In this epi…
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Feb 25, 2021
119: Killer Graces with Steve Melen
When we go through extreme pain, it’s easy to feel like we’re all alone. We doubt that anybody has felt the level of pain that we are currently experiencing. Life begins to feel hopeless and we start believing that there is just no reason to carry on.
However, there is always some good ahead. Think of the countless stories of those who have survived unimaginable circumstances and lived to tell about it. If we will just do what we can at the moment, taking as few steps as we can muster, and keep our eyes locked on the amazing things to come, we, too, can endure any trial.
Today I am speaking with Steve Melen, the author of Killing Graces. Steve carries a resiliency and a hope for getting through the hard stuff in life that is inspiring.
During our conversation, we discuss his journey through stomach cancer, addiction, and survival. Steve is an amazing example of someone who has gone through extreme struggle and pain and made it out to the other side. His story is both riveting a…
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Feb 18, 2021
118: The Potential of Nontraditional Medicine in Addiction Treatment with Mona Balogh
Ever seen or heard of people who would come in for addiction treatment over and over again – like they almost always come in for the same problem with the same sense of empowerment? You could throw as many drugs at them or do all kinds of physical interventions but nothing changes.
If you're just living in your physical body, doctors can help you just fine. But if you're living in your physical body and your spiritual body is in need of healing, then they would have a hard time doing that. Western medicine tries to generalize in this physics-based realm, which is very important. But there’s also this spiritual realm addressed mainly by alternative medicine.
In this episode, Duane speaks with Mona Balogh and she’s going to talk about her book, “How to Stay Out of My Emergency Room: Master Your Health and Find Joy in Your Life by Balancing the Power of Your Mind, Your Body, and Your Higher Self.”
Today, Mona talks about her discoveries as an ER doctor and working with people…
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Feb 11, 2021
117: It Will Never Happen to Me with Claudia Black
Children who grow up in an addictive home internalize a lot of toxic shame where they lose the ability to believe in their own worth and value. For some people, it has never been instilled in them, to begin with. But there is an emotional connection between the addict and their family. Regardless of how old you are – if you were raised with addiction, you deserve to be acknowledged.
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks to Dr. Claudia Black, a world-renowned expert on addiction and codependency. Claudia has been working in the field of addictive disorders for over 40 years. She recently released the third edition of her book, “It Will Never Happen to Me: Growing Up with Addiction as Youngsters, Adolescents, and Adults.”
Growing up with substance use disorders, there was really a lot of fear that permeated her life – the fear that also permeates the lives of so many people growing up in an addictive home.
Claudia believes that nobody deserves to live w…
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Feb 4, 2021
116: The Addicted Child with Richard Capriola
A lot of times, parents out there have kids struggling with addiction and they don’t know what to do or how to notice it. Unfortunately, adolescent addiction is oftentimes written off by a lot of parents because they think what they see as some crazy teenage behavior is just a normal developmental issue – but that may not be the case.
Let’s add the fact that kids hardly tell their parents about their substance abuse for fear of being judged. And this becomes a huge motivator for them to shut down. How do we bridge this gap then?
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with Richard Capriola, substance abuse counselor and author of the book The Addicted Child: A Parent's Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse.
Whether you’re a parent with an adolescent kid struggling with substance or alcohol abuse, or you know someone whose kid is struggling from substance or alcohol abuse, or you suspect your kid is struggling with this issue because you’re noticing so…
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Jan 28, 2021
115: FIX: Indiana State Museum Exhibit on the Opioid Crisis with Cathy Ferree
Substance abuse disorder is something that people don't always discuss, and what you don't know, is where you can go awry. On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks to Cathy Ferree, the CEO of the Indiana State Museum, about their exhibit called FIX: Heartbreak and Hope Inside Our Opioid Crisis.
It's an amazing exhibit that really delves into the opioid crisis from a human perspective. It’s a story that creates compassion and understanding all at the same time. Cathy wants to change the narrative about opioid addiction, mental health in general, and to really take away that stigma.
Having been raised to be very cognizant of people and their feelings, and how much people try to live behind things rather than in front of them, Cathy took charge in finding a role that a museum could play in helping with this crisis. Museums are a place where people trust to give you information and put things in context for you. And it's great to be able to put this into a museu…
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Jan 21, 2021
114: The History of Opium with John Halpern & David Blistein
Opium has been around but what many people don't realize is how much it has shaped society and culture. The United States has spent over $1 trillion on drug enforcement since President Nixon declared a war on drugs. And by any measure, that crisis has become worse. Could we ever imagine a time where humanity is finally free of these substances?
On today's episode, Duane talks with John Halpern and David Blistein, co-authors of the book, Opium: How an Ancient Flower Shaped and Poisoned Our World, where they talk about the history of opium and the reasons they wrote this book. It’s a call for compassion and care for people who are struggling with addiction.
Unfortunately, our current system is not providing proper treatment. Worse, we punish people for not accepting treatment or seeking it out in the United States. The person who gets blamed is the one who's suffering. Whatever people need to do politically or as a society about these issues of drug abuse should not be legislated ont…
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Jan 14, 2021
113: Unraveled with Laura and Tom Boldt
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with mother and son, Laura and Tom Boldt, authors of Unraveled, A Mother and Son Story of Addiction and Redemption. They talk about their story of recovery and how they worked together to get recovery. They each share how their recovery impacts each other, and how they were able to do it. It is a great story of hope, compassion, and gratitude for the life they've created in recovery together – as a family.
A Mother and Son’s Story
Coming from a family of many alcoholics, Laura was certain she wasn't going to end up like her alcoholic mom. But fast-forward to having four children, Laura fell into full-blown alcoholism when her youngest child was two years old. It was on Halloween night 2008 that everything changed for her when she got into a serious car accident. She could barely remember what happened to her the next morning. At that point, she knew she needed help.
At that time when Laura stopped drinking, her son,…
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Jan 4, 2021
112: Habilitat Creating Community with Jeff Nash
On this episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane sits down with Jeff Nash to talk about addiction, recovery, and the importance of finding and engaging in a recovery community. Jeff is the executive director at Habilitat in Hawaii.
Raised in Dallas, Jeff struggled with drug addiction for most of his adult life. By the time he was sixteen, Jeff was shooting heroin and other drugs. By 30, he finally was in the right spot to get on top of his addictions. While staying at Habilitat, he was trained under their philosophy and now runs many programs. He talks about having gone through fourteen different treatment facilities—mostly at the behest of his parents. It took being in jail at 29 and quitting methadone cold-turkey to see that he couldn’t continue to live this way as an addict.
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He saw a model for change at Habilitat, even though getting out of jail was the initial motivator. Its different approach than medical treatme…
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Dec 18, 2020
111: Mindbloom & Psychedelic Medicine with Dylan Beynon
On this episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks to Dylan Beynon, founder, and CEO of Mindbloom, a health and well-being company that provides physician-prescribed psychedelics and guided ketamine therapy.
Dylan describes the time he first experienced MDMA at the suggestion of a friend who thought he needed to break out of his shell. Having an enlightening experience, Dylan sought to figure out how to use ketamine to help people break out of their traumas and addictions. But how does ketamine actually help you?
Two years ago, under ketamine therapy, Dylan personally realized the therapeutic value of psychedelics. He explains that the effects of ketamine therapy are that they open up the brain’s neuroplasticity, which allows people to lay down some new ways of thinking. It can ultimately push people out of their established neuropathways to open their eyes to new options for positive change.
What is the difference between recreational and therapeutic use? Research has show…
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Dec 4, 2020
110: Saving Eric with Mary Burns
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with author, teacher, and mother Mary Burns. During their discussion, Mary meditates on grief, loss, and her son’s struggle with addiction and mental illness.
As early as seven, Mary’s son, Eric, started to have something like screaming fits. She believed it was a phase that would pass. By the time he was a teenager, the screaming fits became “rages.” Looking back, Mary could tell that there was something wrong. The rages were extremely out of character. Eventually, he would turn to hard drugs.
After several months, Eric asked his mom for help. The hospitals, unfortunately, turned Eric away because they determined his addiction was not “severe enough.” In New Jersey, Mary was only able to get Eric checked into an outpatient facility with her insurance coverage. Her company only wanted to provide ten days treatment after his first relapse. Perhaps, she muses, Eric would have been able to work through his addic…
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Nov 13, 2020
109: Altogether You with Jenna Riemersma
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with author, speaker, and teacher Jenna Riemersma about internal family systems, or IFS. Jenna describes how IFS can help to transform your feelings about addictions and past trauma.
Jenna talks about how IFS argues that all of our parts are good. And as counterintuitive as that is, it’s important to understand that the core of your Self is fundamentally good.
Experiencing a “part” of yourself is similar to the idea of having “parts” of our personalities. We want to give those parts their credit because they come from our true Selves, which are good. When a part of us is taken over by a burden, it’s hard for us to take those parts back. Jenna gives an example of a playful part being burdened by a trauma. IFS calls these parts “exiles,” and they carry a lot of weight, especially when you want to try to access those formerly playful parts of yourself.
Jenna illustrates this point with the Manager and the ad…
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Oct 30, 2020
108 Am I Good Enough? with ILL TONE
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks to hip-hop artist Chris Hamilton (aka “ILL TONE”) about the struggle of addiction and the joy of recovery.
He struggled with social anxiety and wrestling with his sexual identity while amongst conservatives on Vancouver Island. He found hip hop after getting expelled from school and identified with the fact that they talked about struggle.
Duane and Chris talk about the fellowship and the validating aspect of group therapy. To be able to speak honestly, as Chris says, frees you from feeling like a monster. It helps to know that you are not alone.
He started on cocaine around age 15, even though he had previously told himself that he would never do that. After his third car accident at 19, he felt so bad about it that he decided to commit himself to a residential treatment. He relapsed with weed in the parking lot after getting out of the treatment facility. Before long, he’d returned back to using daily.
Over time…
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Oct 16, 2020
107: Junk Knowledge with Marques Marchand
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks to author Marques Marchand about addiction, dual diagnoses, and understanding your past.
Christmas 2009, Marques was working at a restaurant and woke up with flu-like symptoms. He hit rock bottom a year later, and decided to quit everything cold, right after Thanksgiving. He struggled to keep friendships and work, and eventually he snapped. From 2006-2010, he sought mental health advice from therapists.
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His recovery process was long and arduous. Besides going to the ER every couple of weeks and racking up thousands of dollars of debt, he also discovered he was an alcoholic and had bipolar disorder type II. Now with a few different medications, the help of the 12-step programs, and better health practices, Marques has been able to free himself from the ups and downs of his addictive behavior.
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Sep 24, 2020
106: Calming the Chaos with Tracy Kenela
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane sits down with Tracy Kenela about “calming the chaos” and creating peace and calm in our lives.
Therapist and podcast host, Tracy discusses how she came to start studying “overwhelm” as a psychological concept. An expert in chaos, Tracy explains how chaotic factors contribute to our being overwhelmed.
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Traci breaks down the different kinds of shock and responses that may manifest when our brain confronts chaos. It seems as though people get addicted to chaos or the absence of chaos. These things really just distract people from addressing the issues that matter.
If you’ve grown up in chaos, it’s possible you’re reenacting chaos as a means of coping with trauma. Tracy and Duane both urge people in this case to seek counseling because they can break the cycle of chaos if they really want to.
There is a phenomenon of victimhood in…
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Sep 10, 2020
105: The Addiction Doctor with Dr. Robb Kelly
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane sits down with Dr. Robb Kelly to discuss alcohol and opioid addiction.
Educated at Oxford, he drank through most of school. He was fired from his job as a police officer, which made him realize that his drinking was problematic. Unfortunately for Robb, it would take him losing everything to finally course correct.
Robb realized that the alcoholic mind preys on you. Toward his own story, he talks about committing suicide four times, two of which his heart actually stopped.
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At his most broken moment, he started crying and realized that he couldn’t get over the alcohol on his own. He knew there was something different, which got him interested in neuroscience.
He knows that he was born with the addictive brain, and he has to be careful about his relationships as a result.
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Robb talks about how…
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Aug 27, 2020
104: We All Play A Role with Daniel Snyder
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with Daniel Snyder about decriminalizing drugs, the opioid crisis, and dealing with addiction.
Based in Vancouver, Daniel describes working through the opioid epidemic in British Columbia. He shares some stories that demonstrate that addiction is a hidden thing for many people; that is, it’s not always as visible as the media would have you believe.
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He does believe that recovery is a process, which includes setbacks. Daniel initially believed that every relapse was a complete failure, but he soon figured out how to change his thinking around the recovery process. A friend asked him a pressing question that pushed him to realize he can learn through recovery. Overcoming the stigma of “once an addict, always an addict” was key.
In Canada, there is an in-depth data evaluation process for fentanyl. They are offering guidance even in…
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Aug 13, 2020
103: Inner Child Recovery Process with Eddie Capparucci
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks Georgia-based counselor Eddie Capparucci about his personal experience with addiction and how to fight off sex and porn addiction. He also talks about the impact of fears of abandonment and how that drives sexually destructive behavior.
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Jumping into the idea of the inner child, Eddie explains that children make up for not being seen by creating new realities in their mind. Playing out fantasies in their heads is part of how they cope with abandonment. He never realized that because of that pain, he was using women.
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After you get through the period of regret, Eddie says, you experience a kind of euphoria in understanding what the problem is. Eddie walked away from two marriages because he felt that his infidelity couldn’t be fixed. Soon after, he sought therapy and began to understand…
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Jul 30, 2020
102: Personality Isn't Permanent with Benjamin Hardy
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with author Benjamin Hardy about his personal experience with addiction and the chaos that comes along with it. Benjamin describes the process overcoming his own addictions involved going through a “redemptive process,” which involved forgiving his father and rebuilding the relationship there. With trauma, you’re always looking in the rear-view mirror, but you need to make meaning going forward. Meaning is not going to strike you—you have to make it yourself. The beauty of this is that you can change the meaning of your past, Benjamin says. It’s key to have empathy for your old self.
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Benjamin also talks about how writing about your trauma can really help. Turning away from the past, you can have hope for the future. Without a hope for the future, Benjamin says, the present becomes meaningless. You can also choose to ascribe…
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Jul 16, 2020
101: Cognitive Bias and Addiction with Andrew Proulx
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with Andrew P. about the concept of cognitive bias and how this process works in the middle of addiction. Andrew also talks about his own journey with addiction in light cognitive bias.
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Alongside his medical practice, Andrew ran a psychotherapy practice for 15 years before becoming addicted to alcohol and opiates. After hitting rock bottom, Andrew’s friends brought him to a 12-step program and a light went off that allowed for him. Being able to see that other people were able to get themselves out of the pit was huge. It’s crucial to understand that there’s nothing wrong with you, but that the symptoms of addiction are common.
Cognitive bias, or our natural inclination to make information match what we already believe, was the research focus for Andrew for many years. He found that people with addictions distort information to…
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Jul 2, 2020
100: Patchwork Junkie with Kyle Dean Houston
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane sits down with father, husband, sales executive, speaker, and author Kyle Dean Houston. They speak about being in the throes of addiction, despairing for hope, staring down your own doom, and ultimately persevering through recovery.
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Kyle openly describes trying methamphetamines and quickly spiraling into a needle-using meth user. At rock bottom, Kyle was overcome with depression and tried to overdose, but failed. He talks about spending months in county jail trying to learn to make the right decisions. Making and breaking promises to his family, Kyle eventually realized that he was powerless over his own actions and he couldn’t continue to live that way. Coming to grips with the role that the brain plays in your addiction was crucial during this time.
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The moment that really changed everythi…
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Jun 25, 2020
99: Healing Hypnosis with Erika Flint
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane interviews Erika Flint about hypnosis, hypnotherapy, and how the two can help you to overcome mental blocks in your life.
Formerly a software engineer, Erika loves the idea of reprogramming, even your mind. Her recent book, Can You Be a Hypnotist? shows how virtually anyone who wants to be a hypnotist can become one. She tries to subvert the idea that all hypnotists are stage hypnotists. There is a more practical kind of hypnosis that can help you with your mental health.
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Though her job was great on paper, it ultimately wasn’t fulfilling. After going through her struggles with alcohol, she hit her rock bottom. Seeking meaning, she found hypnosis was useful in battling demons and fighting off addictions. Now, she spends her time helping people to get their lives back, to love their lives fundamentally.
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Jun 11, 2020
98: Toward A Meaningful Life with Rabbi Simon Jacobson
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks to author and counselor Rabbi Simon Jacobson about making meaning out of suffering, and understanding your own purpose.
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Rabbi Jacobson talks about how surrendering to a higher power, and relinquishing control over your circumstances gives you an edge on dealing with pain. Unfortunately, we don’t have an answer to injustices writ large, but we can have some hope in giving up control. This change in power can give you the strength to make positive action as a result of suffering.
Duane shares a bit from his past to illustrate how you oftentimes need to let go of the desire to understand why loss happens, because you ultimately will not find the reason. Letting go of that need for a reason can help you to heal and move forward.
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There is a healthy way to channel pain from loss and trauma.…
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May 26, 2020
97: Before I Leave You with Robert Imbeault
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane sits down with author Robert Imbeault to talk about his book Before I Leave You. Robert also speaks to his own battle with addiction, his suicide attempts, and his eventual recovery.
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Based in Ottawa, Canada, Rob shares his story of how experiencing a memory of being raped as an eight-year-old turned his life upside-down as he became a shell of himself fueled by drugs and alcohol as a result. After hitting many rock-bottoms, he attempted suicide a few times. But in recovery, he reminds us that despite how dark the story can be, there is hope on the other side.
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Unable to find authentic happiness, Rob pushed further into his work obsession at the sacrifice of his personal relationships. When a memory of his childhood assault comes crashing back, Rob is left catatonic and unable to fully confro…
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May 22, 2020
96: Journals from Cloud 9 with Tyler Farnham
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks to Tyler Farnham about his skydiving accident and his subsequent journey through addiction and recovery.
Tyler says that having goals and making active decisions about who is in your circle can change your life.
Originally from Cocoa Beach, Tyler now lives in Bali. Even before his accident, Tyler had already dabbled a little with pain pills in the form of 20mg Percocets.
After becoming somewhat dependent on them, Tyler found it harder and harder to get off of them. In a leadership position as a lifeguard, he felt the call to give up the pain pills. It was around this time that Tyler realized that the company he kept mattered.
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When he was 18, Tyler started jumping out of airplanes. He jokes about being addicted to it, but in some ways, he feels he really was addicted to the rush, anyway. In the crash, he shattered his right femur and…
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Apr 23, 2020
95: Sober Sex & Recovery with Stacie Ysidro
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks to sex coach and educator Stacie Ysidro about addiction and healing your sexuality during the recovery process. Stacie has studied virtually every corner of addictive sexuality and has focused her career on helping people navigate sober sexuality once they’ve recovered. She has something of a passion for sexology and the relationship between sexuality and spirituality. She realized that people need coaching around their sexuality in recovery.
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Stacie discusses how sex is typically seen through the lens of people-pleasing and not through an honoring one. When not using a substance to escape, you have to more or less face your real sexual self. And yet it’s hard to honor yourself after trauma. Because sexuality is so vulnerable, it gives you access to every other part of yourself.
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Du…
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Apr 16, 2020
94: Lost in Ghost Town with Carder Stout
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with author Carder Stout about his book, Lost in Ghost Town, the story of his addiction and recovery. Duane also addresses the difficulty of the ongoing COVID-19 situation by starting a campaign of stories trying to spread hope in a time of darkness.
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Carder grew up in Georgetown, where his father constantly worked and his mother was an alcoholic. From an early age, he had feelings of disillusionment and worthlessness. By the time he was 11, his parents had divorced, securing the disarray in his home. By twenty, he’d already gone through eating disorders and was living on cocaine in New York. He thought that moving to Los Angeles would help him distance himself from the people he knew and his addiction, but in Venice, the epicenter of crack at the time, Carder’s addiction spiraled. Carder meets a drug dealer in Venice named Flynn, who, with his grandmother Beatrice, actua…
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Apr 9, 2020
93: Healing from Trauma with Dr. Don Wood
Today's guest is Dr. Don Wood, from the Inspired Performance Institute, and he will be talking to us about trauma and how to heal from it. Don helps people reprocess their trauma so that they're no longer in a state of hyper-vigilance and responding to their past trauma in the present moment.
Our traumas can either take us down or inspire us. Don believes that every individual who is dealing with addiction has had trauma. He has been very successful in treating addiction as well as trauma. In the past, he used to find that people were finding ways to live with trauma by learning how to manage it and cope with its effects. Trauma, however, creates glitches and error messages in the way that our minds work and so Don has subsequently discovered that it is possible to eliminate trauma so that we no longer need to deal with any of its effects.
Our subconscious mind operates in the present, so ninety-five percent of our brain is always present, just like the mind of an animal is always p…
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Mar 31, 2020
Special Episode with Suzie Wolfer: Coping Skills to Use During the Pandemic
Due to the worldwide situation with the Coronavirus pandemic, and everything else that goes along with that, we're bringing you a special episode today. The current situation has left most of us with very intense emotions that can be quite difficult to cope with.
So Suzie Wolfer, who was our guest on a previous episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, (Episode 53) decided to join us today, to share some of her insight about emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and somatic experiencing, to help us cope with the feelings that this pandemic has brought up.
Episode link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/special-episode
Suzie Wolfer, LCSW, SEP, is a therapist specializing in Somatic Experiencing®, a powerful system for healing trauma and addiction at their core, and for completing trauma so that it lets go of you.
Suzie has noticed recently that almost all her clients are experiencing the signs of freeze, and often, they are experiencing anxiety along with that too. She points out that we all h…
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Mar 26, 2020
92: Gift of Recovery: 52 Mindful Ways To Live Joyfully Beyond Addiction with Rebecca Williams
Today, Rebecca Williams joins us. Rebecca is a licensed psychologist, who lived and worked in beautiful San Diego, California for twenty-five years. She recently relocated to Savannah, Georgia to be close to the wildlife and the natural beauty of the area.
Rebecca's path into addiction opened up through her family's struggles with addiction. Especially those of her late mother.
Episode link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/92
Growing up in this way, Rebecca wanted to learn as much as she could about addiction so she got her Master's degree in Counseling Psychology, followed by her Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
One of Rebecca's specialties is mindfulness. She has been working on it for the last twenty years and she has found it paramount to her self-healing and also to her capabilities as a psychologist. She discovered mindfulness through yoga when she started teaching it in the eighties before mindfulness became cool.
Mindfulness helped Rebecca to quieten her anxi…
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Mar 19, 2020
91: Bad Bitches Don't Diet with Anita Abdul-Karim
Anita Abdul-Karim is our guest for today. Anita is a registered dietician and she has written a book called Bad Bitches Don't Diet. Today, she will be sharing her journey and talking to us about her book.
Anita is from the Middle East. She struggled to fit in while growing up because there weren't many other Middle Eastern people at her school. She was also chubby, and not the smartest kid in the class, so, although her parents did the best they could under the circumstances, all of that added to the social pressure that Anita was experiencing.
Anita was overweight, and that impacted on her socially, and also within her family. So she tried to take matters into her own hands while growing up. Having a scientific mind, she gravitated towards any available information about diets and nutrition.
Episode link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/91
Anita lost a lot of weight in the seventh and eighth grades. However, in her senior year of high school, a lot was going on, and she gained thirty po…
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Mar 12, 2020
90: The Narcissist In Your Life: Recognizing the Patterns and Learning to Break Free with Julie Hall
Today, our guest is Julie Hall. Julie is the author of The Narcissist In Your Life: Recognizing the Patterns and Learning to Break Free, which was released in December 2019. In today's episode, she will be talking to us about what narcissism is and what it's like growing up with a narcissistic parent or parents.
Julie comes from a narcissistic family, so she describes herself as a survivor. She is an educational writer, poet, and journalist. While working on her memoirs, she came to realize that narcissism had been a major theme throughout her life, so she shifted gears and began to write specifically about narcissism. This became part of Julie's healing process.
Episode link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/90
Julie has a popular blog called The Narcissist Family Files, and you can find the articles that she writes regularly in Psychology Today. She also has articles in The HuffPost and various other places on the internet.
Narcissism is a personality disorder and there has been a lot of…
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Feb 28, 2020
89: The Harm Reduction Network with Kenneth Anderson
We have Kenneth Anderson, from HAMS (Harm Reduction Abstinence and Moderation Support) and the Harm Reduction Network with us today. He will be talking about harm reduction, what that means, how that differs from traditional forms of treatment (like twelve-step abstinence models), and the way that the harm reduction model can help people who are not yet ready for, or not willing to practice total abstinence, but would still like to change their drinking habits.
Kenneth is the founder and CEO of the HAMS Harm Reduction Network, a free-of-charge support group for people who want to make any kind of positive change to their drinking habits, from safer drinking to reduced drinking, to quitting altogether. There are seventeen elements to the HAMS program, which are all optional and can be done in any order. Although HAMS is an alcohol-focused group, they don't stop anyone from talking about any other addictions or problems that they may have.
Episode link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/89
HAMS…
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Feb 20, 2020
88: Recovery Dharma with Josh Rychert
Josh Rychert joins us today. He will be talking about the recovery community called Recovery Dharma, in Boise, Idaho. Josh shares his personal story and explains how mindfulness, Buddhism, and learning to understand his dharma assisted him and can assist others too, by bringing the elements of peace and calmness into their lives and their recovery process.
Episode Link>>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/88
Josh is in Boise, Idaho, where he has been involved in the recovery community since 2014. Recovery Dharma, under that name, only came into being last year. Recovery Dharma in Boise started as Refuge Recovery, with small groups and alliances with other similar groups through an online presence.
Recovery Dharma is an addiction recovery peer support group, with meetings all over the nation. It uses Buddhism, with the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, as a way to structure recovery for individuals.
Josh's recovery began in 1995. After having had issues with an alcohol use disorder,…
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Feb 13, 2020
87: The Root of the Addictive Process with Alex Katehakis
Today's guest is Alex Katehakis. Alex is a Clinical Sexologist with a doctorate in human sexuality. She's also the Clinical Director of the Center For Healthy Sex in Los Angeles, California.
Alex has written several books - Sex Addiction As Affect Dysregulation, Erotic Intelligence, and Mirror Of Intimacy.
Episode link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/87
In today's episode, she shares her wisdom and insight about recovery and we have a great conversation about the root causes of the addictive process. We focus on the early developmental trauma and the way that it affects the ability to regulate our affect, and how addictive substances or processes are used to escape from those feelings.
Alex has always been fascinated by human sexuality. After practicing as a licensed marriage/family therapist for twenty-five years, she decided to dive deeper into human sexuality, rather than psychology.
Talking about affect is referring to emotions. These emotions live deep within the body, and they onl…
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Feb 6, 2020
86: Treatment and Recovery from Chemsex Addiction
David Fawcett is our guest for today and he will be talking about chemsex addiction. He will explain what it is and how people recover when they fuse a drug addiction and a sex addiction.
Episode Link>>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/86
David is a licensed clinical social worker and a sexologist (sex therapist). For the last twenty years, he has been working with men who have sex with men who use methamphetamine, other drugs, and high-risk sex. He has now developed an interest in what has become known as chemsex.
For years, people were coming to David, as a sexologist, with their sexual problems. By looking at their history, he noticed that the sexual problems were being caused by methamphetamine. And he realized that people were often seeking help for their sex problems rather than for their drug problems. This led to David's discovery of the fusion between sexual behavior and drug use. And the devastation that it caused for the affected individuals.
People simultaneously using d…
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Jan 30, 2020
85: Using Breathwork to Cope with a Food Addiction with Kathleen Oh
Kathleen Oh is our guest for today. We have a great conversation with her about breathwork, facilitating change, and non-ordinary experiences.
Episode Link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/85
Kathleen is an Integration Coach, and her work started three years ago, in the foundation of her addiction, and her recovery. She had plenty of help from some great mentors and teachers along the way, however, it was ultimately the tools that she acquired for herself, in her journey out of her addiction, that got her to where she is today.
Kathleen has a food addiction. This was very hard for her, and although her addiction wasn't obvious to others, it was clear to her that there was something profoundly wrong with her brain because she saw how she was continuously cycling through addictions with cigarettes, alcohol, and food. She was a binge-eater who used to eat secretly. She was obese, and her appetite for refined foods was insatiable, so she knew she had an issue with food but she did not realize…
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Jan 23, 2020
84: The Rising Cost of Rehab with German Lopez
Today, our guest is German Lopez. German a writer and he is currently doing a project called The Rehab Racket, which involves looking into addiction treatment, exploring some of the issues associated with it, and bringing them to light. This challenges the addiction treatment community to provide the very best care for people who are suffering from addictions.
German is a senior correspondent at Vox.com. Before, he was writing mostly about drug policy and criminal justice issues, but for the past few months, his focus has been on The Rehab Racket project, which was created to investigate the cost and quality of the treatment that is available for addictions in the United States. At this point, German has received more than 1100 submissions from patients and their families.
For the last few years, German has been researching and writing about the opioid epidemic. He saw that policy-makers had been making an effort to put more money into addiction treatment, which is something that activ…
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Jan 16, 2020
83: Changing the Relationship with You Through Recovery
Today, we have a great conversation with Jen Sugermeyer. She shares her story of addiction and recovery, and she talks to us about overcoming her shame and her fear of reaching out, and how she managed to change her relationship with herself.
Jen's addiction started at the age of twelve, with an eating disorder. At the time, she did not realize that she was paving the way for her brain to become accustomed to satisfying her reward system.
When she reached her mid-thirties, she was an alcoholic and she had been trying to get sober for more than a decade. Looking back, Jen could see her pattern of gaining control of one addiction, and then that leading to another one.
Jen was living an extremely chaotic life, running in and out of jails and hospitals, and then straight into work. She was trying to keep the two parts of herself separate and it was eating her up inside. She even became suicidal towards the end, from living such an unmanageable lifestyle. She kept trying to fix her sy…
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Jan 9, 2020
82: Being Present with Faye Mandell
Today, Dr. Faye Mandell is with us to talk about spirituality, connection, and how being in the present moment and looking at our reality from a quantum perspective can help us find more joy and happiness.
Dr. Mandell is a practicing Awareness Coach. Although she has a Ph.D. in psychology, she does not use the old paradigm psychological framework that she learned in graduate school.
Dr. Mandell wanted to continue educating herself so she went to the Cambridge Adult Education building in Massachusetts and decided to randomly choose a course. At the time, she did not yet know that random was the order of the universe. She had never studied anything to do with physics, before, and by chance, the course that her finger landed on was called Quantum Physics In The Face of God.
The course was given by Fred Allen Wolfe and it completely re-oriented Dr.Mandell's life and changed the way that she interacted with people from then on. She started to see things clearly and understand that reali…
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Jan 2, 2020
81: Creating Habits That Improve Your Quality of Life with Steve Rio
Steve Rio, Founder of the Nature of Work is our guest today. Today, we’re talking about work and recovery and what affects the recovery process. In a quest to live our best lives, we want Steve to share his take on how we can optimize our lives and live in a way that fulfills us.
Episode Link>>www.theaddictedmind.com/81
Steve is a futurist, technologist and researcher born in Vancouver BC, Canada. Steve is founder and CEO of Briteweb, an international social impact agency delivering strategy, branding and digital, and the Founder of Nature of Work, helping people be more productive, creative and happy in their work and their lives.
Steve thrives at the intersection of social impact, culture and technology and is an expert in exponential organizations, remote and distributed teams and workforce wellness and performance. He has real world experience leading remote and distributed digital teams as well as implementing technology and systems for over a decade. It’s through the lens…
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Dec 26, 2019
80: Finding Honesty and Recovery Beyond the Filtered Life with Emily Lynn Paulson
Recovery from addiction is a particularly challenging process for women, who are also mothers, to go through. Emily Lynn Paulson, author of the book, Highlight Real: Finding Honesty and Recovery Beyond the Filtered Life, is our guest for today's show. She shares the story of her addiction and her journey along the path of the process of recovery and healing.
Emily used to dislike herself a lot. She had difficulty with being honest, both with herself and with others. From a very young age, she used to tell white lies to cover up the things she didn't like about herself and to make up for the things she thought she lacked.
When Emily started drinking, it helped her to cover up, and make up, for the things she didn't like about herself or that she thought she lacked. The first time she ever drank alcohol, she realized that it affected her differently to the way it affected her peers. Rather than just having fun, when she drank, she felt that she was finally the person she was always m…
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Dec 19, 2019
79: Memoir of a Delinquent Girlhood with Maureen Stanton
Today's guest is Maureen Stanton, the author of the memoir, Body Leaping Backwards, Memoir of a Delinquent Girlhood.
Maureen spent about forty years writing her book but she kept avoiding taking it to the point of getting published because there was shame in it for her. So she only started writing the book seriously in 2014, once her dad had passed away. He had done the very best he could for her so she wouldn't have wanted him to feel ashamed of her.
Episode Link>>www.theaddictedmind.com/79
Maureen wanted to tell the story of what happened with her so long ago because she believes that it is still relevant and that it will still resonate with teenagers today, even though the specifics are different.
Maureen's teenage years were a time of great anxiousness, sadness, and confusion. She felt that she wanted to disappear. She had feelings of self-doubt and she lacked self-confidence to the point of self-loathing. So she turned to drugs to self-medicate. She started using Angel…
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Dec 12, 2019
78: The Freedom Model of Addiction Treatment with Mark Scheeren & Michelle Dunbar
Our guests for today are Mark Sheeran and Michelle Dunbar of the Baldwin Research Group. They have a thought-provoking conversation about The Freedom Model of addiction treatment, which is a non-Twelve Step, and non-disease model of treatment.
Mark is 49-years old. He is the chairman of Baldwin Research and he is one of the authors of The Freedom Model. Mark co-founded the Saint Jude Retreat, which is where The Freedom Model is taught.
Episode Link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/78
Mark was involved in a serious drunk-driving accident thirty years ago, at the age of nineteen. This made him realize that he needed to change his life. He was mandated into treatment and found that he disagreed vehemently with what they were teaching him because he did not believe that he would be an alcoholic forever. His treatment experience was so bad that he knew there had to be a better way. After completing eighteen months of treatment he decided to figure out a better way for people. Within one year, he…
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Dec 5, 2019
77: Seeking Treatment Before Hitting Rock Bottom with Dave Jansa
Today, Dave Jansa, of We Face It Together, talks about how he helps people get through a part of addiction treatment that sometimes tends to be overlooked. There are some people who suffer from addiction who have not necessarily hit their rock bottom. So, although they realize they have a problem, they have often not yet suffered the all big consequences of their addiction.
Dave offers coaching, to help these people change their thinking about addiction and to help them change their addictive process before they have to face the deep consequences that are normally associated with addiction.
Sixty-four-year-old Dave was born and raised in South Dakota. He comes from a big family where addiction was rife. Currently, five of the eight siblings in Dave's family are abstinent from drugs and alcohol.
Dave started drinking alcohol when he was in high school. He also became a heavy marijuana smoker at the time. This curtailed his education because he quit college after his first semester…
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Nov 28, 2019
76: Finding Yourself at Rock Bottom with Gregg Champion
Today's guest is Gregg Champion and he will be talking about hitting rock bottom, what that means, and the significance of finding ourselves sitting at the crossroads of wanting to change from a life of addiction to one of recovery. Gregg also discusses his rock bottom, and he tells us his recovery story.
Episode Link: www.theaddictedmind.com/76
Gregg is the co-founder of START UP RECOVERY, located in the Pacific Palisades. START UP RECOVERY is a transformational residence that supports people through career, passion, and what Gregg refers to as a recovery play-book. Their four cornerstones are a community, accountability, education, and love. They also provide for their residents the unique service of mentorship for long-term sobriety and long-term success.
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Gregg got sober 25-years ago when he was in his mid-twenties. He has managed to retain his sobriety by remaining willing to be willing. He maintains a mindset of life as a continuous…
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Nov 21, 2019
75: The Role of Grief and Loss in Addiction with Dr. Sonya Lott
Today's guest is Dr. Sonya Lott, a licensed psychologist with advanced training from Columbia University's Center for Complicated Grief. Sonya runs a private practice in Pennsylvania and she hosts the Reflections on Multicultural Competence Podcast. She is the founder and CEO of Cempsych LLC, a company offering continuing education for licensed mental health professionals.
Today, Sonya talks to us about grief and loss, which is intertwined in many ways with the addictive process. She explains that living is about connection but, ironically, the more loss we experience, the greater the likelihood becomes that we will actually fear connection. Still, it is very important to acknowledge the need for connection.
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Sonya explains that what we think and feel has a direct and immediate influence on what's happening with the neurotransmitters in our brain. This has a long-term impact on the way that hormones are released in the body. Over time,…
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Nov 14, 2019
74: Turning Your Past Into Your Superpower with Erin Miller
Today, Erin Miller shares her story of losing her son, Chad, to heroin addiction. She talks very frankly about her painful process of grief and loss, and she explains how she's managed to find meaning and purpose in what she's been through, by using Chad's story to help others.
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Five years have passed since Chad's death. During this time, Erin has gained a lot of insight and wisdom, and her current perspective is completely different from how it was at the time of his death. Being able to help others has made the whole experience worthwhile for her.
Erin explains that addiction has become an epidemic. It is on the rise and it is destroying families and people's lives. She believes that there's one kind of addiction or another running in virtually every household because both street drugs and prescription medication are so very easily available today. This is why she advocates strongly for mental well-being and helps people to find ways,…
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Nov 7, 2019
73: The Toll of Sugar Addiction with Mike Collins
In this episode, Mike Collins talks to us about sugar addiction. Mike is the chairman of the Food Addiction Institute, a non-profit which has been around since 2005. Their stated goal is to get chronic sugar use elevated to a substance use disorder.
Mike found recovery from his drug and alcohol addiction a little more than 34 years ago when he was 28. Over the years, he got married and had a normal career and business life. Yet, as he progressed with his sobriety, he started to recognize that his patterns with sugar were almost identical to his using patterns with drugs and alcohol. If he didn't have it he suffered withdrawals and became anxious, and irritable.
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In his intensive studies of addiction over the last five years, Mike has noticed that the sugar cravings in recovery seemed to revolve around the brain's reward system. He saw that many people, in their first year of recovery, would gain huge amounts of weight and he realize…
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Oct 10, 2019
72: Reaching Out With Your Story With Eli Nash
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Eli Nash, founder of the Mic Drop public speaking training program whose purpose is to help people articulate their stories. Eli has recently gained recognition from his TEDx video about escaping his porn addiction, and he hopes the Mic Drop program provides a platform for others to find connections through being vulnerable enough to speak their truth.
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At a young age, Eli started scouring through his family’s mail to find any catalogs with a lingerie section and hiding those catalogs in secret stash places all around his house. When his family got a computer, his secret stashes became hidden computer folders containing pornographic images, and even when he knew he needed to stop this behavior, he simply couldn’t stop. This demoralizing process of wanting but failing to stop consuming this content just fed into the downward spiral, necessitating retreating back into porn even m…
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Sep 24, 2019
71: When Sane People Do Insane Things with Ellie Katz
Dr. Ellie Katz has spent the past 35 years working in the area of addiction treatment, using her holistic approach and real talk with compassion to work with her clients. She joins us on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast to discuss her experiences and observations about the field and about human nature.
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Ellie has been living in Israel for 40+ years and she began her career in psychological linguistics, but she always had a desire to help people directly. Even as an adolescent, people recognized her deep intuition about those around her, calling her the Earth Mother and coming to her for advice and guidance. Ever since she transitioned to helping people with their addiction treatment, her focus has been on helping her clients and their families sort through the irresistible urges that had been ruling the addicts’ bodies.
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Ellie went through…
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Sep 3, 2019
70: Welcomed Accepted & Loved with Leslie Cole
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Leslie Cole, an addiction medicine physician at a clinic outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and author of the book “Quit Pain Pills.” Leslie spent the first 20 years of her medical career as an internist. The journey of self-discovery stemming from realizing she had been struggling with an eating disorder led her down a different path. She found hope and healing through recovery literature during that time. When an addiction clinic called her out of the blue to offer her a job, she knew that she had found her sweet spot, helping others find hope and healing.
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Leslie is a firm believer in providing an environment to patients where they feel welcomed, accepted, loved, and safe. People struggling with addiction are used to the shame heaped onto them from themselves and others, but they are not used to a provider listening to them without judgment. As a part of her clinic’s program…
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Aug 15, 2019
69: Medication-Assisted Addiction Treatment with Cynthia Schmit
Cynthia Schmit is an advocate for medication-assisted treatment of addictions who would love to see healthcare providers informing their patients of all of the options for treating their addictions. On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, Cynthia talks with us about the physiology of addiction and the need for education regarding medication-assisted treatment.
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In her early 20’s, Cynthia found herself using every recreational drug that someone put into her hand, quickly progressing from marijuana to heroin and beyond. She found herself wanting to quit often, attempting to detox on her own at least 5 times before she completed a 28-day methadone detox and a 6-month 12-step recovery program. During her time in rehab, the knee-jerk reaction of providers was “you don’t treat drug addiction with drugs,.” Medication-assisted treatment was not presented as an option to her. She got married a few years into her recovery.
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Jul 22, 2019
68: Talking Suicide with Ursula Whiteside
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, Duane interviews Dr. Ursula Whiteside, a clinician, researcher, and trainer in the area of suicide prevention. Ursula struggled with her suicidal thoughts throughout her life, and in 1999, she moved to Washington state to learn from Marsha Linehan, the creator of DBT (dialectical behavior therapy). Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in some age groups and is more prevalent than car accidents, homicides, and breast cancer. Beyond these statistics, it is estimated that 10 million Americans every year have suicidal ideation.
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The exciting thing is that this overwhelming emotional crisis that can lead to suicidal ideation is not sustainable in the brain for more than 48 hours. So while people are within this timeframe, it often feels like things will always be this bad and that there is no hope. While it might not be helpful for them to think that they might feel this way for a couple of da…
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Jul 8, 2019
67: If You Love Me: A Mother's Journey Through Her Daughter's Opioid Addiction with Maureen Cavanagh
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Maureen Cavanagh, author, and founder of Magnolia New Beginnings. Maureen’s family had a long history of addiction, but since she was not personally prone to addiction, she thought that she knew the formula to help keep her kids away from addiction as well. However, her world was suddenly shaken when one of her daughters came to her to admit that she had been experimenting with heroin.
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Even living in an upper-middle-class neighborhood, opioids were not difficult for her daughter to find, and once she tried heroin for the first time, the road to sobriety and recovery proved to be steep. Just when Maureen thought her daughter had a handle on her addiction, it would rear its ugly head again, and she would see just how much of a hold it had on her precious child, who was now an adult. Maureen did what she believed any good parent would do: she dropped everything and rushed to her da…
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Jun 21, 2019
66: Creating Positive Self-Connection with Tim Sitt
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Tim Sitt, a clinician at the Freedom to Move Group who shares Duane’s appreciation of Virginia Satir’s work. Virginia Satir was cutting-edge in the 1960s when she moved away from the “traditional” psychoanalytic model and practices that perpetuated the hierarchical narrative that had become the norm in therapy. Her work is still revolutionary in that clinicians using her techniques bring in all of the pertinent members of the person’s family to address every member as having equal value and potentially remove the risk of redacting progress made with the individual during a session when they go back to their home environment, which may have caused them to turn to coping in the first place.
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People struggling with addiction often feel shame and no sense of self-worth, but this model aims to bring dignity to the person rather than harping on their behavior or pattern leading…
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Jun 7, 2019
65: Ketamine IV Therapy with Michael Steuer
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Dr. Michael Steuer of the Pacific Ketamine Institute in Los Angeles. Dr. Steuer’s training and practice have mainly been in the areas of anesthesia and pain management, but for the past 5+ years, he has shifted his focus somewhat to the use of ketamine to treat depression, mood disorders, addiction, and chronic pain.
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Before 2013, when the effectiveness of ketamine for these purposes was discovered, the main drugs to treat depression and mood disorders such as PTSD were SSRIs and SNRIs (Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors). While these medications were effective in temporarily treating the symptoms of depression and mood disorders, they often took weeks or months for patients to feel their effects and they often came with unpleasant side effects.
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May 22, 2019
64: Jacob's Recovery Story with Jacob Jones
On this episode, Duane interviews Jacob Jones, author of the book “Recovered” and former opioid addict. Jacob has had a very turbulent but not uncommon path from addiction to recovery, and his insights into what drove his attitudes and behaviors over the years are eye-opening to anyone who has never personally experienced addiction.
Jacob grew up in Alabama, the son of a University of Alabama football player who spent several years playing professional football, so the desire to perform well athletically was instilled in Jacob at a young age. When he started playing football in 7th grade, it was clear that he had genuine talent, and the desire for acceptance and affirmation through achievement essentially became his first addiction. He was given the scholarship to play at the University of Alabama – a dream come true – and before he even took the field for his first practice, he was already dreaming of playing in the NFL.
During his sophomore year, he had to take a medical rele…
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May 2, 2019
63: Talking To Your Spiritual Wisdom with Harry Derbitsky
Harry Derbitsky, President of Advanced Coaches Training Inc. and author of “Evolution of Addiction Recovery”, joins us on this episode of The Addicted Mind. While Harry himself has never been addicted to a substance, he recognizes that there are addictive behavior patterns in every person, and he has committed his life to help reorient the minds of those affected by addiction.
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During his time working with the indigenous people of Vancouver, Harry has found some common patterns: people want to leave their addiction, but they do not know how, many of the common strategies focus on personal effort, and working with clients on their internal condition first brings much more significant results. Harry uses a three principles model which includes mind, though, and consciousness and combines mental health and spiritual wisdom. With this model, the primary goal is to guide the client to find the answers within themselves, connecting to the s…
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Apr 11, 2019
62: Shatterproof Transforming Addiction Treatment with Samantha Arsenault
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Samantha Arsenault, Director of National Treatment Quality Initiatives at Shatterproof. Shatterproof is a nonprofit organization on a mission to improve addiction treatment through prevention, treatment, education, and advocacy. It was founded in 2014 by Gary Mendell, a businessman who lost his son to the disease of addiction and became passionate about helping other families navigate the broken addiction treatment system.
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The work of Shatterproof was additionally spurred on by the 2016 Surgeon General’s report that showed empirical evidence that substance use disorders and other addictions can be treated effectively, but there is a significant gap in care available. In response, Shatterproof established their National Principles of Care (https://www.shatterproof.org/shatterproof-national-principles-care) to provide individuals and famil…
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Apr 5, 2019
61: Brain Maps & The Mind with Kyle Ferroly
On this episode of the Addicted Mind Podcast, our guest is Kyle Ferroly, a specialist in the area of psychophysiology. Kyle is passionate about spreading his message about the connections between mind, brain, and body and the untapped potential of integrating brain mapping with physical and mental health practices.
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Most people, even those in the medical field, do not realize the depth of knowledge that can be gained through the analysis of a brain scan. An electroencephalogram (EEG) simultaneously measures 19 channels of brain activity and speaks volumes about electrical imbalances in the brain that contribute to varying levels of connectivity, coherence, phase, and speed and impact the mind as well as behaviors. This test can reveal certain brain patterns that predispose people to addictions or anxiety and provide doctors with a whole picture of what is going on in the body. Without this psych…
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Mar 7, 2019
60: Helping Our Young People with Recovery Schools
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, Duane is joined by two practitioners in and advocates for recovery high schools. Michael Durchslag leads PEASE Academy in Minneapolis and Andy Finch is an academic researcher in the field of recovery schools at Vanderbilt University and co-founder of the Association of Recovery Schools.
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Recovery schools have been around since the late 1970s, but their growth has really started climbing in the past 20 years and there are currently 45 recovery schools in the US. Recovery schools provide a high school education and significant recovery support to students who are in recovery for a substance use disorder. Adolescents leaving rehab often find it difficult to maintain their sobriety when they return to the same home environment and school situation, so recovery schools are a great resource for students to learn and be specifically supported.
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Feb 22, 2019
59: Never Binge Again with Glenn Livingston
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, we are joined by Glenn Livingston, a psychologist, marketing consultant, and former binge eater. Glenn’s issues with food began during his childhood and continued progressing through adolescence until he developed very serious health problems and his doctors told him that he needed to make a change. Coming from a family full of psychologists, he started out going the psychological route, but he didn’t break through until he had a couple of realizations that led him to create an unconventional road to recovery.
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The first thing he realized was that people gravitate towards binging different types of foods based on their mental state. He organized a study with 40,000 responses that described the connection between foods and circumstances: chocolate is the drug of choice for people who are lonely or brokenhearted, salty and crunchy foods appeal to peo…
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Feb 8, 2019
58: Teens, Vaping & Nicotine Addiction with Laura Kelly
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Laura Kelly, health reporter for the Washington Times. In early January 2017, Laura wrote an article for the Times about the increasing rate of teen nicotine addiction due to e-cigarettes and vaping. Over the past 6 years, e-cigarettes have become increasingly popular, more technologically advanced, and more discrete.
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One particular brand – Juul – has risen to the top, and they are using their elevated status to target teens and young adults. The vaping liquid or pods that Juul produces contain a salt-based formula that comes in attractive flavors containing nicotine, which causes it to be absorbed differently than the nicotine in cigarettes. Because pods are not tobacco-based, the e-cigarette/vaping industry is not currently regulated by the FDA, meaning that companies can sell to almost anyone who wants to buy and they are actively a…
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Jan 24, 2019
57: Addicted To Love with Lacy Bentley
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Lacy Bentley, a recovery mentor, and coach in the areas of love and sex addictions for women.
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At age 13, Lacy found herself consuming erotic novels and pornographic anime called hentai. She didn’t realize it until much later in life, but her involvement with those types of pornography had created an addiction to the fantasy that affected all of her relationships into adulthood. She developed a pattern of escape and avoidance related to any intense emotion – positive or negative – that was affecting her marriage and her relationship with her children as well.
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Once she realized her own issues, she realized that there had to be other women out there who were struggling as well, but no one was willing to talk about women having problems with pornography. Since so much of pornography involv…
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Jan 2, 2019
56: Opiates & Medical Cannabis with Peter Grinspoon
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, we are joined by Peter Grinspoon, a primary care physician in the Boston area who is an advocate of medical cannabis.
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During medical school, Peter and a few of his classmates decided to try a sample of Vicodin to see if they could experience the euphoric side effects. While his friends tried it that once and never felt compelled to try it again, Peter immediately felt the need to find another high. This feeling was exacerbated by the stress of the medical profession and the easy accessibility of medications, and throughout 10 years, he battled an opioid addiction. Ultimately, this addiction led him to trouble with the law, a 90-day rehab program, and a few relapses, but 3.5 years later, Peter had progressed in his recovery enough to get his medical license back. He credits his successful recovery to the support he received from his family, friends, an…
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Dec 11, 2018
55: Joshua's Recovery Story - Porn Addiction
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Joshua Shea, who joins us to tell his story of addictions to alcohol and pornography and the past 4 years of recovery. Joshua was first introduced to porn around age 11 and alcohol at age 15, and looking back, he recognizes that he was addicted from Day 1. Even at a young age, he began to use alcohol and porn as an escape from life and a way to soothe whatever emotions or pain he was experiencing, seeking the element of power or control over his circumstances that he didn’t have in the real world. He leaned on the notion that alcohol and porn were never going to let him down or tell him he wasn’t good enough, and this mentality became a crutch for him.
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Joshua remembers that things began spinning out of control when he was struggling to keep up with work and his public service, so he took himself off of his medications for bipolar disor…
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Nov 30, 2018
54: Building A Culture Of Support - Group Therapy with Mari Lee
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Mari Lee, a licensed marriage and family and certified sex addiction therapist supervisor, consultant, coach, speaker, author, and founder of Growth Counseling Services in Glendora, CA. Mari is a firm believer in the power of group therapy in conjunction with individual therapy and 12-step sessions to aid in the recovery process, especially with sex and porn addictions. Addiction thrives in secrecy and isolation, and could often be triggered by boredom and loneliness, so an excellent way to progress in the recovery process is to have a confidential group of individuals who know what you are going through and can support you along the way. The members of this group could, in fact, be the first healthy relationships they have each experienced.
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Group therapy, when facilitated the right way, can provide the individuals with shame reduction practices, a co…
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Nov 13, 2018
53: The Body Remembers - Somatic Experiencing with Suzie Wolfer
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, our guest is Suzie Wolfer, LCSW, SEP a therapist specializing in Somatic Experiencing®, a powerful system of healing trauma and addiction at it’s core and for completing trauma so that it’s let go of you.
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Somatic means “of the body,” which includes the sensations we feel when we experience different emotions and thoughts. Trauma and stress are stored in the body, causing behaviors, patterns or responses arising from implicit memory system or the unconscious.
Our initial reaction to the uncomfortable feelings that are associated with trauma and stress is to stabilize these feelings by managing them from the “top down,” striving to suppress, control, or make the feelings go away. This desire to manage troubling thoughts and emotions, though useful in the short term, keeps us from healing the underlying stuck patterns, that show up as chronic Fight, Fli…
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Nov 2, 2018
52: Fat Shame & The Obesity Epidemic with Michael Hobbes
On this episode of The Addicted Mind, we are joined by Michael Hobbes, a writer for The Huffington Post and co-host of the You’re Wrong About… podcast. Michael wrote an article entitled “Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong” for HuffPost in September 2018 which has gotten a lot of attention in the psychology community as well as the culture at large. There are 160 million Americans that are classified as overweight or obese based on the BMI scale, but even though these individuals constitute 30% of the population, they are treated as a marginalized minority who are somehow tainted or inferior to the rest of Americans.
During the interviews that Michael conducted for his article, he encountered countless people who felt guilt, shame, hurt, anger, and sadness based on the way they have been treated or the projections of what they want to look and feel like instead of the way they do right now. There seems to be a prevailing attitude that overweight or obese people are lazy…
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Oct 19, 2018
51: Practical Recovery & SMART Recovery with Tom Horvath
On this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast, our guest is Tom Horvath, founder of Practical Recovery and co-founder of Smart Recovery. Smart Recovery is a non-12-step approach to addictive behavior problems that provides an alternative to programs like Alcoholics Anonymous. While both methods provide new communities and relationships to build on as well as specific examples of individuals who are models of success, AA is based on the idea that you must give yourself up to a higher power because “you are powerless” and must rely on your sponsor and meetings in order to recover.
12-step programs can be helpful to some, but they can be ineffective for others, so the demand for alternative programs is continuing to increase. Smart Recovery integrates any methods that have been supported by scientific evidence, are self-empowering and are applicable in a mutual help group, including CBT, DBT, and ACT. They recognize that there are multiple pathways to recovery and that great results oc…
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Oct 11, 2018
50: Too Close - Parental Enmeshment & Addiction with Kenneth Adams
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Dr. Ken Adams, a therapist specializing in the area of parental enmeshment and its connection to compulsive behaviors such as porn and sex addiction. All families are defined by the balance of closeness and separate between the members. Enmeshed families overemphasize their closeness, resulting in the parents controlling the decisions of their children, demanding their loyalty, prohibiting them from becoming involved with friends or activities outside of the family, and using guilt as a punishment for trying to separate any part of their lives from their parents. It is not uncommon for the parents in these types of families to treat the children as a surrogate husband or wife, expecting the child to fulfill their emotional needs.
As a result of experiencing this lifestyle throughout childhood, adults usually find themselves struggling to live their own lives, even if they are geographically separated from each other. The enmeshm…
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Sep 27, 2018
49: Getting Into The Experience - Adventure Therapy with Ricky Santiago
Ricky Santiago, a specialist in adventure therapy, joined us for this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast. He uses specially planned and designed activities such as kayaking, snorkeling, and ropes courses in his adventure therapy sessions. Experiential therapy like adventure therapy maximizes the benefits of group therapy by building self-esteem, utilizing metaphors, and providing an arena to practice coping skills and process emotions. Ricky and his colleagues have often found more success through one experiential therapy session than through several talk therapy sessions because clients are not able to hide their true selves when they are participating in an activity that is challenging to them mentally, emotionally, or physically.
Since the therapist is participating in the activity as well, the clients see how the therapist handles their emotions and difficulties they come across, and clients can more easily open up about fears or challenges in their own lives or experiences. Thou…
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Sep 21, 2018
48: Inside Rehab - The Surprising Truth About Addiction Treatment with Anne Fletcher
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, our guest is Anne Fletcher, author of 8 books including “Sober for Good” and “Inside Rehab.” Anne felt the need to write “Inside Rehab” after consulting with several experts, one of which posited that people usually spend more time picking out their next vacuum cleaner than they would finding the right addiction treatment facility. Driven by the notions that treatment should help people avoid hitting rock bottom and that their treatment should emphasize the benefits of sobriety over the pitfalls of addiction, she spent 4 years studying 15 different treatment centers across the country to see what was working and what wasn’t working for their patients.
She was somewhat shocked to discover that most inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities heavily employ group-based treatment, 12-step methods such as AA, and counselors without medical or psychological expertise in their limited one-on-one sessions. As she expected, she hear…
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Sep 6, 2018
47: Nate's Recovery Story
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Nate Postlethwait, who joined us to share his recovery journey. Nate grew up in a very religious environment in a rural southern town, which had a profound impact on his childhood and his eventual recovery from the trauma he experienced and his resulting sex addiction. Sexual dysfunction was a generational issue with his family that was never properly handled, and he was the victim of multiple abusive encounters as a child, but it was not until his early 20’s that Nate realized that his compulsions were not typical. He came to understand that he was putting himself in physical danger due to his addiction which led him to feel tremendous shame. Acknowledging that he did not want his life to continue this way, he sought counsel and therapy within the religious community for several years, but he found that they were not equipped to address the biological roots of his trauma or addiction.
In his first week at a treatment center,…
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Aug 24, 2018
46: The Healing Power of Equine Therapy with Marla Berger
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, our guest is Marla Berger, a clinician in the field of experiential therapy, who joined us to talk about equine-assisted psychotherapy. Research and experience show that treatment centers, which incorporate some experiential treatment into their program, see their clients make more progress more quickly. Equine-assisted psychotherapy and other similar activities give clients an opportunity to apply the insights they have gained through their talk therapy sessions.
During an equine session, an equine specialist and a clinician create a custom environment for the client or group of clients based on their needs and other environmental factors, and they facilitate the framework of the session. Clients then have the opportunity to interact (or not interact) with the horses or donkeys and ascribe meaning to what is happening. Animals are incredibly intuitive by nature because of their survival-driven need to be in tune with their environment, so…
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Aug 16, 2018
45:Psychedelics & Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Amy Emerson and Shannon Carlin
On this episode of The Addicted Mind, we are joined by Amy Emerson and Shannon Carlin of the Multidisciplinary Approach for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) research group. Amy and Shannon’s group has had 107 participants complete their MDMA-assisted PTSD therapy program in the last several years, with promising results. As you may know, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) affects 7% of the US population who have experienced life-threatening events such as military combat, car accidents, natural disasters, or childhood abuse. Individuals with PTSD experience prolonged instability in their lives, perhaps resulting in hypervigilance, fear, difficulty sleeping, and lack of trust.
MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, allows participants to experience the opposite of their PTSD symptoms, ideally increasing trust and dampening fear. Participants go through 3 previous therapy visits to establish a baseline and get them familiar with the therapy process, then they have their first MDMA sessio…
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Aug 9, 2018
44: Healing Complex & Developmental Trauma with NARM with Brad Kammer
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Brad Kammer, a therapist specializing in somatic psychotherapy to solve shock and developmental traumas. Brad’s interest in somatic psychotherapy began during his time as an aid worker working with Burmese refugees. He observed their healing rituals, which frequently involved physical actions such as singing, chanting, or performing, and while he was going through his own healing process from the secondary PTSD from his time with the Burmese people, he realized that talking through trauma is not always effective.
By working through the complex traumas experienced during childhood or other traumatic events with the body, healing can be much more attainable. Additionally, using more natural and realistic relationship-focused alternatives to the typical therapy session involving closed shades, a locked door, and no interruptions make people much more likely to share openly and get to the root of their traumas.
Whether we realize…
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Aug 2, 2018
43: Anxiety & The Anxious Story We Tell Ourselves
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Lori Kandels, a therapist in the Bay area specializing in anxiety. Anxiety is often the result of trauma and can manifest as fear, stress, self-doubt, and persistent negative stories ruminating in the mind, and can sometimes lead to addictions as a way to escape. The repetition of these stress responses creates neural pathways in the brain that become a cycle that can be difficult to break and usually negatively impacts the individual’s metabolism, concentration, sleep patterns, and ability to relax.
The key to understanding and treating anxiety is realizing that anxiety is only about the past or the future. With discipline and intention, anxiety can be overcome with practices such as mindfulness, meditation, EMDR, and the Emotional Freedom Technique or tapping. By identifying the triggers and developing a practice that gets the person used to relieve the anxiety, there is absolutely a way out of this stress cycle.
Lori wants…
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Jul 26, 2018
42: Eating Disorders & Addiction with Adina Silvestri
On this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast, we are joined by a returning guest, Adina Silvestri of Life Cycles Counseling in Richmond, Virginia. Adina’s practice works with individuals battling eating disorders partnered with addictions with the goal of transferring their shame to hope and healing.
The combination of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating) with substance or other addictions is very harmful to the health and wellbeing of those struggling and can even lead to death in untreated cases. It is common for men and women to struggle with eating disorders and addictions for years, silently suffering due to their shame, before reaching out for help. While there is not much literature available on treating these two disorders together, Adina has found that mindfulness and support and accountability groups are effective and life-changing resources for those struggling.
In these situations, there is always an underlying issue that the individual is…
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Jul 19, 2018
41: Veterans & First Responders with Timothy Wienecke
On this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast, Timothy Wienecke joins us to discuss his work in advocacy, clinical mental health, and an educational institute for veterans and first responders. A military veteran himself, Tim recognized the need for clinicians to focus on the mental health of veterans and first responders, who are prone to mental injury on a daily basis. He found that non-combat veterans and combat veterans with a dishonorable discharge have almost no access to resources to help them cope with PTSD and/or traumatic brain injuries, not to mention the typical struggles with finding purpose, integrating into civilian life, and learning how to be present with their families again. During their time in the service, members of the military are required to make very few major life decisions, but when they get out, they are bombarded with decisions but their identity is so wrapped up in their roles in the military that they struggle to process it all.
We have all heard that 22…
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Jul 6, 2018
40: Invitational Interventions - The ARISE model with Jack Bloomfield
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Dr. Jack Bloomfield, a specialist in the ARISE model of interventions. This model is an alternative to the “traditional” form of confrontational interventions created in the 1960s by Dr. Johnson. In this confrontational model, the focus is very much on the addict, usually involving an ambush-type situation where several family members trick the addict into coming to a certain location where they are presented with some type of “go to rehab tomorrow or else…” ultimatum.
Due to the heartfelt emotions in this situation, addicts are likely to agree to go to rehab, but 70% of them will leave rehab within 2 weeks because they didn’t make the decision to enter on their own terms.
They usually feel anger and resentment towards their family which proves to be counterproductive to the family’s original desires and plan.
The ARISE model of intervention is different and successful in 3 areas:
It is an invitation model.
The a…
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Jun 28, 2018
39: Understanding What Works - Feedback Informed Treatment with Scott D Miller
On this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast, our guest is Dr. Scott D. Miller of the International Center of Clinical Excellence in the field of mental health. Dr. Miller has used his decades of experience in the industry to develop outcome measures with the goal of increasing the effectiveness of therapy. These outcomes are not merely “milestones” or objective progress markers, but are more subjective and are focused on the client’s well-being and function.
Previous training for therapists had been targeted towards treating the symptoms that the client had, but often even when the symptoms had gone away, the person wasn’t feeling much better. Using the ORS and SRS scales that Dr. Miller developed allows the therapist and the client to maintain an open dialogue regarding the effectiveness of their treatment and their satisfaction with their relationship overall, which is key to the success of the therapy. This practice of consistently tracking and reporting results allows the…
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Jun 21, 2018
38: You Are Worth Recovery - Women & Sex Addiction with Amy Smith
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Amy Smith, founder of the Worth Recovery podcast, which has grown into a community of mutual support. Amy began her recovery journey in 2011 when she realized that her multiple failed “relationships” were a result of sex addiction and the notion that intimacy was nothing more than a transaction. On the very same day that she promised to do something to change her situation, her father – with whom anger had characterized her relationship – told her that he had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
Because women with sex addiction seem to be a taboo subject, where Amy had to overcome stigma and shame that men with the same issue would not have to deal with due to the social acceptability. At the time, she was living in Seattle, where she found a great therapist and women’s 12-step group that embraced her on her road to recovery. A couple of years later, she moved to Salt Lake City and expected to find similar resour…
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May 10, 2018
37: The Digital Age - Relationships, Intimacy & Porn with Robert Weiss
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, we are joined by Robert Weiss, a digital-age intimacy and relationship expert and author of several insightful books on the topic (links below). Rob’s non-alarmist approach to the impacts of our digital age on intimacy and relationships as well as on the minds and futures of our children is refreshing and encouraging, while still reminding us to be aware and informed. In his 25 years in the industry, Rob has noticed significant shifts in the accessibility of pornography, leading to an increased prevalence of problems with porn in today’s society.
While previous generations had to wait until a certain age to legally purchase or rent pornographic magazines and videos – usually from a grimy store in a defunct area of town – the internet has allowed today’s adolescents and adults immediate, free, and convenient access to porn. This eliminates the need for mentally processing whether gaining access to the porn is worth the effort, beca…
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Apr 26, 2018
36: Trauma Sensitive Yoga with Nicki Mosley
On this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast, we talk with Nicki Mosley about trauma-sensitive movement practice and the effective impact that this can have on those suffering from long-term trauma. Trauma-sensitive yoga was developed by The Trauma Center in Boston several years ago to give individuals a safe way to access their trauma and work through the sensations felt in the body by rebuilding the neural pathways related to making choices based on feelings. This is an evidence-based technique that does not get caught up in sticking to a certain process, knowing that participants will need different things during the class to find healing.
During a trauma-sensitive yoga class, participants will be invited to be as comfortable as possible by choosing the area of the room where they set up their mats as well as by wearing clothing that allows them to move freely and then by having the ability to choose how they will participate in the movement practice based on what feels right to th…
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Apr 12, 2018
35: Food Addiction & The Hunger Fix
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, we are joined by Dr. Pam Peeke, a physician and scientist specializing in food addiction. Those struggling with food addictions fit into two categories: (1) people who practice disordered eating which eventually takes over all other aspects of their life, or (2) those who are recovering from another addiction and have turned to junk food and beverages as a transfer addiction.
Disordered eating and food addictions mainly revolve around the chemical effects of processed foods on the brain’s reward center, which releases dopamine and conveys the feeling of pleasure to the body. When people continue to eat junk food, the reward center of the brain becomes overwhelmed and reduces the number of receptors that can process the dopamine being released, so eventually the feeling of pleasure attained by the release of a certain amount of dopamine doesn’t feel as good as it once did, which makes the person want to consume more junk food in order t…
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Apr 5, 2018
34: Sudden Grief - Losing A Loved One To Addiction
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Dr. Louise Stanger, a clinician, interventionist, author, and trainer specializing in the grief and loss experienced by the family members of an individual who dies of an opioid overdose. Since nearly all overdoses occur somewhere other than the hospital, there is not much scientific research on the opiate epidemic. We do know that in 2016, 155 people per day died of overdoses, and for every one of those people, at least four family members were affected. In addition to these overdoses, 88,000 people died in alcohol-related incidents in 2016.
Families often approach Louise for an intervention for their loved one after they have tried everything else they can think of, and Louise uses the intervention to encourage systemic change in the addict’s life. Addiction is a disease which is treatable, despite the stigma attached to it that claims otherwise.
Grief looks different for everyone; it could involve shame, casting/placing b…
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Mar 29, 2018
33: Double Or Nothing - Gambling Addiction with Colleen Koncilja
Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Colleen Koncilja, a counselor based in the Chicago area who specializes in gambling addictions. Shortly after a casino riverboat became a permanent fixture just blocks away from her practice’s office in Elgin, Illinois, the town recognized that compulsive gambling would become an increasing problem and they gave Colleen’s team funding to assist the population who would suffer from this behavioral addiction.
Problematic gambling, also referred to as compulsive or pathologic gambling, can begin when there is a progression in the amount and/or frequency of the gambling, gambling becomes consuming of other aspects of life, the individual does not do it for recreation anymore but to fulfill a need, and the individual has to start lying about where they have been and what they have been doing. Action gamblers become addicted to the euphoria or high that they feel when they are performing well and other people at the casino are re…
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Mar 22, 2018
32: Overwhelming Anxiety & Overcoming It With Jonathan Horowitz
Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Jonathan Horowitz, founder and director of the San Francisco Stress and Anxiety Center. Jonathan is a clinical psychologist who studied anxiety research in graduate school before transitioning to being a clinician and opening the Stress and Anxiety Center.
It is a misconception that anxiety is always a bad thing; in fact, our minds were built to experience healthy anxiety when our bodies sense that they need to be alert to their surroundings. Anxiety starts to become a problem when we cross the line from heeding the warnings of our anxiety and benefiting from it to worrying about our anxiety and taking steps to try to get rid of it. A significant number of Johnathan’s clients are high-functioning, high-achieving individuals who may be having a difficult time coping with the pressures of their careers. These individuals might develop behaviors like procrastination, avoidance, or even developing an addiction of some kind in or…
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Mar 15, 2018
31: Under Pressure - Teens & Self-Harm with Curt Widhalm
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, Curt Widhalm shared with us on his area of expertise, teens, and self-harm. Curt has observed two types of teens who are engaging in self-harm behaviors: (1) those struggling to find the opportunity to express their emotions due to their busy schedules, and (2) those whose friend groups are engaging in self-harm behavior for attention-seeking.
In general, self-harm behaviors, which could include cutting, burning, or over-exercise, are quick ways for teens to release their emotions in a very visual way because they are often too busy to adequately learn how to deal with their stress or trauma. They could also act this way because their living environment does not allow them the space to express their emotions or release their negative energy in healthy ways, perhaps due to the demeanors of their parents or complications in their living situation. In Curt’s experience, a main source of stress for teens who engage in self-harm is the feeli…
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Mar 8, 2018
30: Melting The Ice Cube - EMDR & Trauma with Kay Simmeth
On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, my guest is Kay Simmeth, a Marriage and Family Therapist certified in EMDR. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is a type of bilateral stimulation that activates both sides of the body and both sides of the brain. This dual action process of tapping on the client’s knees back and forth, listening to music or sounds that alternate between headphones, or feeling vibrations in alternating hands, the frontal cortex and the amygdala are both activated, which allows the client to access the portion of the brain where the trauma is stored and then shift those negative beliefs or cognitions to positive beliefs.
Without being able to access both sides of the brain simultaneously, the client will just continue to feel the negative beliefs related to the trauma and not be able to go any further by consciously and logically thinking about the situation. Doing so through the 8-phase process of EMDR allows the client to “melt” the tra…
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Mar 1, 2018
29: Lighting Up The Brain - Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation With Suzanne Jessee
Susanne Jessee is with us today to talk about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). TMS is a relatively new treatment, at least in the United States, for individuals who are struggling with depression.
Depression is often present in addiction and TMS is something that may help people that are struggling with addiction and treatment-resistant depression.
Susanne Jesse is the CEO and founder of Anew Era TMS in Huntington Beach, California.
To start, Susanne breaks down what TMS stands for. Transcranial means “beneath the cranium,” and magnetic stimulation means “stimulation using magnets.” The technology behind MRI magnets is used in TMS. But the big difference between TMS and MRI magnets is that the TMS magnetic technology creates a field of energy that is fairly intense that penetrates beneath the cranium into the brain.
TMS focuses in on the mood center of the brain that is responsible for the depressive symptoms. That area is stimulated to wake up those neurons again so th…
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Feb 22, 2018
28: Hearing The Muse - Music Therapy with AmyLynn Dimaano
Today our guest is board certified music therapist Amylynn Dimaano. She speaks to us today about music therapy and how music can help us deal with underlining issues in recovery.
What is music therapy? Music therapy is the scientific use of music to effect a change of non-musical goals. It is not a music lesson, and Amylynn is not a music teacher. Music therapy isn’t about to learning music. Her goals are to help people through mental health therapy that are struggling with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction, etc.
Music therapy includes elements of traditional therapy as well, such as regulation, relaxation, communication, and accountability. In this therapy, she uses music to open up the wisdom of the individual.
We need to use our entire brain to process music - jazz, rock-n-roll, classical, show tunes - to "hear" music you need to use both sides of your brain. Whereas in traditional therapy we mainly use the analytical side. When we add music to…
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Feb 8, 2018
27: Seeking Sexual Satisfaction In Recovery with Liz Dube
Welcome to this week's Addicted Mind podcast. Our guest today is the wonderfully humorous and informative Liz Dube, and she’s here to talk about healing our sexuality, and finding our sexual satisfaction once we’re in recovery from addiction.
Liz is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist with a private practice in Long Beach and Huntington Beach, California. Most of her clients are looking to increase their levels of intimacy and improving sexual and relationship satisfaction.
How does addiction impact our sexuality? Sometimes, clients meet with Liz before they have found a balance between obsessive and compulsive sexual behaviors, and they’re trying to figure out how to have satisfying sex. And other times, people are in recovery wondering how to have satisfying sex now that they’re sober. To feel uninhibited during sex, they often used a substance to numb uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.
Some clients have a lack of comfort in sex, so whe…
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Feb 2, 2018
26: Awaken The Essential Self - Conscious Recovery with TJ Woodward
TJ Woodward is with us today to talk about a system of care that he has developed called conscious recovery.
Conscious recovery is a groundbreaking and practical approach to viewing and treating addiction. It’s how we see addiction and addiction treatment through the spiritual lens. Your spiritual life is a big part of recovery and finding a place of calm within yourself is a critical stage.
TJ has worked, with remarkable results, for over a decade in spiritual care at top-tier treatment centers, and he has been in recovery for 31 years.
TJ explains that conscious recovery started with a question: What might happen if I were to view all of his clients through the lens of wholeness imperfection rather than looking through the lens to see whats broken.
Typically in western medicine, we look at symptoms and behaviors and try to eradicate them. Addiction is quite different. Once we view addiction as the problem or the client as broken in some way, we have limited the capacity of the clie…
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Jan 25, 2018
25: Figuring It Out The Power Of Psychological Assessments with Tracy Zemansky
We have a fantastic guest today. Dr. Tracy Zemansky is here to speak about the fascinating topic of psychological assessment, and how it can help you or your client on a journey of healing.
What is a psychological assessment? It’s not what we typically see in the movies. It is a way of evaluating a particular part of an individual and trying to understand it more. To get as much information as possible psychological tests, interviews, questionnaires, behavioral observations, and sometimes collateral interviews, which are interviews with people that know the individual well, are used.
Tracy explains that this process is like being a detective looking into someone's personality. Searching with the client, and possibly their therapist, at any concerns that may be getting in the way of their goals.
We give the example of a client that is stuck and may not be able to gain long-term sobriety, or they may not be able to form the long-term relationships they want. Going through the process o…
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Jan 18, 2018
24: Changing Your Mindset with Megan Fenyoe
We are excited to have mental health therapist, and Air Force veteran, Megan Fenyoe as our guest today as we discuss trauma, addiction, and changing your mindset toward a more positive life.
Megan has been a mental health therapist for over 15 years, primarily focusing in the areas of trauma and substance abuse. As an officer in the Air Force, Megan provided mental health services to veterans and active duty members mostly in the field of substance abuse. Most recently she has worked with patients in a hospital struggling with addiction. While working with patients throughout her career, she has focused on mindset and how your mindset can change the course of our lives.
To help in her personal and professional life, Megan has developed some great mindset tools to help her get “unstuck” in those moments when life gets you down.
We discuss what it means to have a positive mindset. We all have negative thoughts that alter our mood, and we all tend to say more negative than positive th…
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Jan 11, 2018
23: Getting Smart Using Smart Recovery With Pete Finger
Our guest today is Pete Finger from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In this episode, he shares his recovery journey and how the support group Smart Recovery helped him to overcome addiction and helped him to enjoy the life he lives today by helping others through the same program that helped him.
Mr. Finger had struggled with alcohol addiction for 20-30 years. Growing up in what he describes as an “addictive family” where cocktail parties were a big part of their lives, he used alcohol to cope with the trauma of abuse by a teacher. His addiction continued to escalate through college and beyond. An intervention at work helped Pete get into recovery.
Pete’s history of trauma is not uncommon with people who struggle with addiction. To cope they find behaviors or substances to help them feel better and it slowly becomes unmanageable until we learn to stop beating yourself up and allow yourself to recover.
Pete was fortunate enough to find a Smart Recovery facility in San Diego called Prac…
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Jan 4, 2018
22: Relational and Betrayal Trauma with Marnie Breecker - Part Two
Marnie Breecker from the Center for Relational Healing in Los Angeles joined me for the second part of our discussion on relational and betrayal trauma. She walked us through the Six Dimensions of Relational and Betrayal Trauma as well as the steps in the process of partner healing.
The Six Dimensions are:
Shattered Inner World – In this initial dimension, the four core beliefs (the world is benign and a source of pleasure; the world is meaningful, controllable, and just; people are trustworthy and worth relating to; and the self is worthy, lovable, good, and competent) are threatened by the traumatic event(s) of betrayal. This has been compared to the trauma of finding your house burned down and losing all of your belongings.
Life Crisis – The disparity between belief and reality that develops after the discovery of the addiction causes the trauma symptoms discussed in Part One of our discussion with Marnie in Episode 21. This dimension can include wondering who to tell and whe…
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Dec 21, 2017
21: Relational and Betrayal Trauma with Marnie Breecker - Part One
Our guest today is Marnie Breecker from the Center for Relational Healing in Los Angeles. In this first episode of a two-part series on the topic of relational and betrayal trauma, we will be defining what this type of trauma looks like and its impacts on both partners in the relationship.
As a sex addiction therapist and a marriage and family therapist, Marnie is an expert identifying and assessing the traumatic impact of the discovery of infidelity or betrayal on relationships as a whole and on the individuals involved. She shares with us that there are two types of trauma that affected partners go through: the trauma of discovery and the trauma of their own response to the betrayal.
It is very rare for addicts to come forward for help on their own, so it is likely that the partner has discovered the betrayal either intentionally or unintentionally through their partner’s computer history, text messages, or receipts and bank statements. Upon this initial discovery of betrayal, t…
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Dec 14, 2017
20: The Opioid Crisis with Chris Shorrock
Our guest today is Chris Shorrock, a psychologist in private practice in Medicine Hat. Our point of discussion is the opioid addiction and opioid epidemic, and Chris understands this topic very well.
He’s got experience in treating addicted disorders in different treatment centers that he’s been working with after being a registered psychologist. He’s also worked at the methadone maintenance treatment program. So we can certify he’s got first-hand experience dealing with opioid addiction.
An opioid is a powerful form of painkiller that’s known to suppress very intense pain. Nothing can compare to how effective opioid can be at masking or lowering pain. It must be noted that there’s a considerable difference between opioid and other forms of drugs like cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, etc. However, opioid does not in any way help to heal a particular disease but really what it does is it numbs your feelings so you won't feel pain intensely.
It's been puzzling to psychology pract…
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Nov 30, 2017
19: Sacrificial Helpers Syndrome with Katie Vernoy
In this episode, we talk about sacrificial helpers’ syndrome, great for people who are in the helper profession or volunteer helpers. Sacrificial help syndrome can be defined as people giving more than they have for the people they serve.
Our guest today is Katie Vernoy. A licensed family therapist, a coach, and consultant with helpers based in Torrance, California. As she says, she helps helpers to help better.
Most people who’ve had traumatic experiences that completely changed their lives can end up with this syndrome because they just want others to get through it better than they did and in between that they don't think of taking care of themselves.
For therapists, they put their own needs at bay and focus on what other people need and how they can help them. Working past normal working hours, neglecting own self-care practices, scheduling in clients during personal time, foregoing meals just to help someone out are mostly signs that you're sacrificing yourself too much.
Katie…
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Nov 24, 2017
18: Tend and Befriend Women and Addiction Treatment with Adina Silvestri
Welcome to the Addicted Mind Podcast. Today, we are delighted to bring you the wisdom and expertise of Dr. Adina Silvestri, EdD, LPC as she talks about her research on women seeking addiction treatment.
Dr. Adina Silvestri is a licensed Professional Counselor in Richmond, Virginia and the founder of Life Cycles Counseling. One of her specialties is helping women that are struggling with substance abuse recover from shame to find hope and healing.
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Nov 16, 2017
17: Inside The Addicted Mind - An Immersive Experience with Elvar Sig
We are discussing a new immersive VR experience that’s teaching teenagers about addiction. Elvar Sig has transformed personal tragedy into an innovative and generous project, a tool to build awareness and generate conversations. He shares how addiction has been a force in his own life. He walks us through the VR journey he’s created, and what he hopes young people will take away from the experience.
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Nov 9, 2017
16: Therapeutic Attachment - Foundation For Healing with Anthony Ramynke
In this episode, we talk with Anthony Ramynke about attachment, empathy, and early childhood experiences. He tells us why early childhood experiences are the root cause bringing people into therapy, and what this means for the process. The therapist’s job is to attune empathically to the client, giving them the building blocks to heal. By creating a safe, intimate relationship – perhaps for the first time in the client’s life – the therapist allows the client to develop new ways of relating to themselves and others.
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Nov 2, 2017
15: LifeRing - Peer-to-Peer Support in Secular Recovery with Jason Groce
Jason Groce stops by to talk about sobriety, dual diagnosis, and the recovery support group LifeRing. For 10 years, Jason was an on again off again alcoholic. He would stay sober for periods of time or attempt to moderate. Eventually, stressors would pile up and he would start drinking. He tried support groups but didn’t find them helpful. 3 and a half years ago, a social worker asked him what he was going to do differently. It wasn’t his first time to the hospital, but he was committed to making it his last. He agreed that he needed to find a community to stay sober.
LifeRing got Jason’s attention. He attended a meeting, and the format worked for him. The philosophy of secularism and personal empowerment spoke to Jason. He’d always struggled with the spiritual components of other programs, and the emphasis on powerlessness and surrender. Most of all, he liked the more conversational structure of the meeting. Each meeting, participants are invited to share about their last wee…
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Oct 26, 2017
14: Getting Connected - Online Therapy for Addiction with Megan Peterson
We are talking with Megan Peterson of 2nd Chance Counseling. 2nd Chance is an internet-based addiction treatment provider. They have therapists in every state working to make treatment accessible, flexible, and cost-effective. Duane and Megan talk about the advantages and disadvantages of this new treatment model, who it’s for, and how it came to be.
2nd Chance conducts therapy by video chat. The flexibility this offers creates new possibilities for treatment that is impossible for traditional outpatient clinics. Patients can communicate with their therapist earlier and later. Appointments can be any length the patient and therapist agree on. The flexibility and relative ease of meeting by video instead of in-person mean that appointments can often be set on shorter notice. Patients can utilize their therapist when difficulty arises, instead of waiting until the next scheduled appointment. Most of all, being able to access therapy without traveling eliminates the barriers that preven…
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Oct 17, 2017
13: Getting Your Attention - Sex Addiction and Attention Deficit Disorder with Dr. John Sealy
Part of the work we do to treat addiction is to work through the other preexisting conditions and environmental factors that could contribute to addictive behavior. Those who suffer from a co-morbid condition will notice that addiction recovery is much harder to treat without also addressing the other condition. Recently, we have more insight than ever before how Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) plays a role in Sex Addiction in particular. Today, our guest is Dr. John Sealy, who has been an advocate and forerunner in how ADD and Addiction influence one another. As we learn more and more about the treatment of ADD, we can also change how we treat Sex Addiction.
Dr. Sealy is passionate about ensuring that people get the help they need. He does not treat addiction as a single issue but looks at the whole patient to assess the care they need. Due to the inherent stigma and shame that many sufferers carry around Sex Addiction, it has historically been difficult for these people to rec…
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Oct 10, 2017
12: Overcoming the Hurt - Affair and Betrayal Recovery with Katie Leminux
Addictions can infiltrate and influence so many aspects of relationships, and affairs and betrayal are no exceptions. Here to speak to her experiences as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist is Katie Leminux. Katie fell into working with couples in affair and betrayal recovery because she loved to see the huge potential for improvement. Time and again, she realized that addictions of all kinds play into affairs and why they happen or as a result of the trauma.
We as therapists can provide the structure and framework for couples to work through intense, emotional struggles. Katie believes in the power of the Gottman Couple Counseling Model to help couples reclaim their relationship and recover fully from any addictions. Today is your opportunity to see the hope that Katie sees, and to really understand how a complex recovery is really possible.
In this episode we also discuss:
How Katie “fell into” working with couples.
The Gottman Couples Counseling Model.
Chang…
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Oct 3, 2017
11: Getting Rational - REBT Therapy with Eli Holmes
Today, I am delighted to bring you the wisdom and expertise of Eli Holmes. Dr. Holmes is a Portland-based Psychologist who is just as passionate as we are about research-based treatment. Today, Dr. Holmes is going to bring to light some of the amazing insights therapists can gain from using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Therapy. The REBT model is perfect not just for individuals struggling with addiction, but also those with emotional swings, obsessive thoughts, and mood issues.
In this episode, we will talk about the fascinating history of REBT and why it is such a powerful tool. We will get to parse out why we have an emotional reaction to certain events, and how we can help our patients cope with emotional reactiveness. As we continue to arm ourselves with the latest techniques and research, we can continue to make a difference in the lives of those battling addiction. You do not want to miss out on today’s episode.
Today we will also learn:
What is REBT, and why is…
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Sep 26, 2017
10: Moderation Management and Harm Reduction in Addiction Treatment
Every week on the Addicted Mind Podcast, we seek to share methods and insights from mental health professionals that are paving the way to success and recovery. This week, Dr. Nazanin Moali is bringing her insights to the podcast on Moderation Management models as opposed to Abstinence Models. Are you ready to challenge what you know about recovery models? Is there more out there than a 12 Step Program?
Dr. Moali is a Sex Therapist and Addiction Specialist. Through her work with her practice, Oasis 2 Care Center, Dr. Moali has learned that the Abstinence Model for overcoming addiction is just one of the many modes professionals can use during treatment. By keeping the client’s needs and goals at the center of her practice, Dr. Moali has seen success in Harm Reduction as well as Moderation Management. Now, she is taking her knowledge to the next step as she releases episodes of her own podcast, Sexology. Dr. Moali’s knowledge is vast, and we are excited to share her perspec…
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Sep 19, 2017
09: How Motivational Interviewing Changes the Brain with Dr. Tony Mele
As therapists, we hear about Motivational Interviewing (MI) all the time. It's a technique that therapists can use to bring forward the ambivalence that a person with an addiction has, towards resolving that addiction. It's well regarded and it's a fairly well-researched intervention for people with addictions, but still, a lot of the people looking for treatment, or even those who have been in treatment, don't really seem to know what it is, or why we would use it in a treatment setting.
Today's guest, Dr Tony Mele, is the Chief Clinical Officer at Sovereign Health. He's on the show today because he came to our agency recently and did an incredible training on Motivational Interviewing, where he was able to really go in depth and look at how Motivational Interviewing actually works with the brain, to bring about change. Listen in to find out more about what Motivational Interviewing is all about and how it can be used effectively, within the treatment setting.
Show highlights…
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Sep 12, 2017
08: Combat Veterans: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Addiction with Dr. Jessica Naughton
Welcome back to The Addicted Mind podcast. This week, we are talking with Dr. Jessica Naughton, a Clinical Psychologists who has years of experience working with combat veterans dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many veterans struggle with addiction that also suffer from PTSD. Now we know that PTSD can be one of the underlying causes of substance abuse since addictions spring up as a way to deal with PTSD symptoms.
So how can we care for veterans as they navigate PTSD symptoms? The good news is that the stigma around mental health disorders is rapidly changing. Now more than ever before, there are people like Dr. Naughton who have the resources to help veterans and their unique experiences of trauma and addiction. Help is here! Listen to see just how much we can do for our Veternas.
We talk a lot about PTSD, but what exactly is it?
Trauma for combat veterans cannot be processed in the moment.
Symptoms were actually an adaptive change to help veterans survive.…
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Sep 5, 2017
07: Quitting Addiction is Like Giving Up a Lover with Stephen Buckbee
Anyone who has worked in the field of addiction recovery will know that recovery is a long road, and often we as therapists and counselors will need to find ways to engage our client’s sense of thought and endurance. The work of Virginia Satir has been extremely influential in addiction recovery, and this week’s guest, Stephen Buckbee, has been using Satir’s methods successfully for years now.
Stephen joins Duane Osterlind on the Addicted Mind this week to explain the transformative power of embracing change. Therapy, he says, is a process that the counselor and therapist can enter into with their client. Rather than striving to “fix” a recovering addict, we have the power to generate a place of safety and self-discovery. Therapy is at its most powerful when the slow change process is fully engaged. The Satir Method is very good at embracing change and paving the way to recovery. Join us this week as we celebrate recovery and empowerment through self-discovery!
Also in…
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Aug 29, 2017
06: Emergency Mental Health Care with Eric Osterlind
There’s a bit of mystery and uncertainty surrounding Psychiatric Hospitals across the country. They are staffed with caring professionals and the goal of today’s show is to sort of demystify the process of dealing with a Psych Hospital and also understanding some best practices for getting help to the folks who need it most.
Our guest today is someone I have a personal relationship with because he’s my brother, Eric Osterlind! Eric is a psych nurse and he works in Psychiatric hospitals with acute patients. Eric also works in the ER, dealing with their psych cases. Most of the cases Eric works with are acute, so the first priority is to keep the patient safe, and then any treatment would come after the psych team is sure they are safe.
Most of Eric’s patients come in on a 5150 psych hold, which lasts for 72 hours. If they are a danger to others or a danger to themselves, then they can be held on this hold. Reasons for this hold could be that a person becomes suicidal or ho…
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Aug 22, 2017
05: Using Mindfulness to Overcome Addiction with Robert Cox
Mindfulness. It’s all the rage on the internet, but a lot of people haven’t a clue what it means when they see it. We all have a different image and set of expectations about mindfulness, but what actually is it, and how can it help those on the road to recovery? Is it just a fad, or will adopting a mindfulness practice really make a difference in the way we think?
Robert Cox is a Mindfulness Master, and he has experience and success stories to share with the “Addicted Mind” community this week. Robert is also the host of two podcasts, so he knows a thing or two about making something “heady” like Mindfulness easy to digest. Robert shares the evidence scientists have gathered for the brain transforming power of mindfulness, and then teaches you a few tricks to try it out on your own.
Robert defines Mindfulness based off of research.
The subtle difference between mindfulness and meditation.
Using mindfulness to build resistance to cravings.
The current mindfulnes…
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Aug 15, 2017
04: Understanding Emotion Using Mindfulness and DBT with Dr. Debbi Kooyman
“Dialectical Behavioral Therapy” is one of the many tools we have tucked away in their tool belt to help people overcome their addiction, trauma, and behavioral disorders. While it might sound complicated at first glance, the true power of DBT comes from its practical applications. This week, we take a close look at DBT and discover a simple, non-judgmental way to understand human emotions. Mindfulness, practical action steps, and a new understanding of the brain combine to make DBT a powerful tool to beat addiction.
This week’s guest is Dr. Debbie Kooyman. Her 20 years of work in Psychology have shown her just how important it is for adults dealing with addiction, abuse, and trauma to be able to take a step back from their emotions and learn how to think again. Dr. Kooyman shares her wisdom in this episode and dispels some misconceptions you might have about DBT.
Specializes in adults who were abused as children. DBT is a resource for people dealing with addiction as…
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Aug 7, 2017
03: Explore the Amazing Work of Virginia Satir with Teresa McClellan
Welcome back to The Addicted Mind Podcast. This week, you will have a chance to explore the amazing work of Virginia Satir with Teresa McClellan. Teresa has been in the field for 18 years, and she’s worked with just about everyone: Couples, families, men, women, co-ed groups, and more! Thanks to her range of experience, she knows a thing or two about how we as human beings respond in therapy, and Virginia Satir’s methods really made an impact on her. Now, Teresa is employing the model for addiction recovery in a men’s prison and seeing amazing results.
Satir was ahead of her time in some of her practices, so this is a chance to really shed some light on the impact she has made. Combined with what we know now about the brain and human psychology as a whole, it is easy to see that Satir’s emphasis on human connection is exactly what an addict in recovery needs to experience. Teresa shares her wealth of wisdom and more this week, so you won’t want to miss it!
Discover V…
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Aug 6, 2017
02: Food Addiction and Eating Disorders with Janet Whitney
The more we learn about the addicted mind, the more we can begin to understand how trauma, disorders, and addictions really are interrelated. Today, we are thrilled to take that exploration to a personal level through the eyes of Janet Whitney. Janet is a Licensed Family and Marriage Therapist, but she is also a devoted mother. No mom would ever want to walk with their child through a life-threatening illness, even less so when it is something as slippery as an eating disorder.
Since she was very young, Janet’s daughter, Hannah, has battled anorexia and eating disorders in a slow fight to recovery. By supporting her daughter through a long healing journey, Janet now wants to share her unique insight into the inner-workings of recovery and therapy.
Recovery from eating disorders and addiction is similar: so similar that Janet has used her own life experiences to inform and shape her own practice. Today, it is time to get out of the theoretical exploration and into the person…
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Aug 6, 2017
01: Introducing the Addicted Mind Podcast - My Mission to Help
Welcome to the “Addicted Mind” Podcast hosted by Duane Osterlind. Duane is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist who is passionate about helping people overcome addiction. Through years of experience and witnessing the real life change brought about by modern counseling practices, Duane developed a passion for the process. That passion led him to begin the “Addicted Mind” Podcast, built on what he thinks are the most meaningful aspects of beating addiction.
Research: what is the current evidence about addiction treatment? What brain processes can we use to overcome addiction?
Treatment: In what ways are we treating addiction? What’s working? What might not be working?
Recovery: What does it look like for someone to overcome addiction?
Along the way, experience how so many people have been able to create a life that is meaningful to them. Addiction can be beaten. Let’s learn how.
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Learn more at http://thead…
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Jul 20, 2001
190: Living on the Other Side of Addiction with Dana Golden
Whether it's divorce, job loss, addiction, or being the spouse of an addict, we're all going through recovery from something. We can make our own path – and that’s what recovery is all about. You’ve just got to learn how to pick up and move on.
On today’s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane speaks with certified recovery and family addiction coach, Dana Golden, who talks about living on the other side of addiction. She shares what it was like living with a partner struggling with addiction and how she found her own freedom through that.
Growing up, Dana's dad had a process addiction – gambling, sex, alcohol, you name it. From that, she learned some very maladaptive behaviors to cope with, which she carried over later on with her other relationships, including her then-husband. She eventually got sick and tired of being sick and tired. Having been brought up with the idea that she needs a man, she finally understood that her whole recovery journey was all about advoc…
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