The Addicted Mind Podcast

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 Practical Recovery. It’s founder, Dr. Tom Horvath, developed their program through evidence-based practices and the following four tenants:building and maintaining motivationcoping with urgesmanaging thoughts feelings and behaviorsliving a balanced lifeThese methods have worked well for Pete, and he has been sober for three years.thefix.com is the website that he used to find a positive place with individual attention and Smart Recovery was what he needed. Pete gives all the credit to Smart Recovery.Pete is trained as a Smart Recovery facilitator and has been working with their program for three years. Pete gives us an idea of what a typical Smart Recovery meeting looks like: There is an introduction and talk about what Smart Recovery is, and what it isn’t. Then they go around the room for “check-ins” which take almost 100% of the rest of the meeting time. Individuals take turns talking about their current struggles, how their week has been, relationships, and the raw emotions that come along with sobriety.In these meetings, cross-talk is encouraged. Individuals are encouraged to share their experiences as they relate to others andSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marnie Breecker 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.Learn More About The Shame To Resilience WorkshopIs your relationship struggling to recover after betrayal? Have individual therapy, group sessions, or other recovery programs left you feeling stuck? My program, Shame to Resilience, is specifically designed to help men step up for their partners and support true healing. Having worked with hundreds of couples navigating the aftermath of infidelity, I’ve found that shame is often the biggest obstacle to rebuilding trust and connection. This program addresses that barrier, guiding couples toward meaningful repair and growth. Learn more at the link below.10-week Shame To Resilience Workshop For MenThe Six Dimensions are:Shattered Inner World – In this dimension, four core beliefs (the world is safe and enjoyable; the world is fair and controllable; people are trustworthy; and the self is worthy and competent) are shaken by the trauma of betrayal. It’s been likened to losing everything in a house fire.Life Crisis – The gap between belief and reality that forms after discovering the addiction can cause trauma symptoms, which we discussed with Marnie in Episode 21. This stage can involve figuring out who to tell and where to find help, arranging childcare, managing other shaken aspects of daily life, and facing uncertainty about whether the threat of betrayal is ongoing.Existential Trauma – The partner loses faith in their ability to make decisions and questions their core beliefs. They may start to see the world with distrust and fear, and their relationship with themselves is damaged. This dimension can take the longest to heal.Emotional Trauma – This includes patterns of emotional abuse (lying, deceiving, manipulating) used by the addict to hide their secret. Emotional trauma can be overt (rage, yelling) or covert (subtle attacks like blame or gaslighting that make the partner feel unstable).Sexual Trauma – Neglecting to address the partner’s sexual trauma makes later restoration and healing more challenging, so it is crucial for their feelings to be validated and their responses to be normalized.Relational Trauma – In this dimension, the addict must develop empathy and understand that relational healing requires significant time and patience.Shame To Resilience WorkshopIs your relationship struggling to recover after betrayal? Have individual therapy, group sessions, or other recovery programs left you feeling stuck? My program, Shame to Resilience, is specifically designed to help men step up for their partners and support true healing. Having worked with hundreds of couples navigating the aftermath of infidelity, I’ve found that shame is often the biggest obstacle to rebuilding trust and connection. This program addresses that barrier, guiding couples toward meaningful repair and growth. Learn more at the link below.10-week Shame To Resilience Workshop For MenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest today is Marnie Breecker. In this first episode of a two-part series on relational and betrayal trauma, we’ll define this type of trauma and its impact on both partners. As a sex addiction therapist and a marriage and family therapist, Marnie is an expert in assessing the traumatic impact of infidelity on relationships. She shares that affected partners experience two types of trauma: the trauma of discovery and the trauma of their own response. It is rare for addicts to seek help on their own, so partners often discover the betrayal, intentionally or not, through computer history, text messages, or bank statements. After this discovery, the partner can show symptoms of depression, shock, anger, hypervigilance, and isolating behavior. They may also make lifestyle changes, like starting to smoke or drink, and question everything they believed to be true. When their expectations are violated, they lose trust in their partner and themselves, and begin seeking safety because they feel they can't trust their own senses.Shame To Resilience WorkshopIs your relationship struggling to recover after betrayal? Have individual therapy, group sessions, or other recovery programs left you feeling stuck? My program, Shame to Resilience, is specifically designed to help men step up for their partners and support true healing. Having worked with hundreds of couples navigating the aftermath of infidelity, I’ve found that shame is often the biggest obstacle to rebuilding trust and connection. This program addresses that barrier, guiding couples toward meaningful repair and growth. Learn more at the link below.10-week Shame To Resilience Workshop for MenAfter the initial shock of betrayal, partners often experience trauma related to their own reactions, questioning everything they believed and noticing changes in their lifestyle. Common responses include obsession, depression, anger, hypervigilance, and rumination, which can lead to self-doubt and a loss of confidence in making decisions. Marnie identified five dimensions of trauma: emotional, sexual, existential, life crisis, and relational. Healing must address all these areas. During reconciliation, it is crucial for the recovering addict to support their partner and avoid worsening their trauma. Triggers may arise even during recovery, bringing unresolved aspects of the trauma to the surface. Although the journey is challenging, it’s important to remember that it won’t always feel this way. There are many resources to help heal from relational betrayal, and there is hope.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 practitioners to understand why opioid patients become so addicted even after healing. Recent research has shown it is the turn-on of addictive genes and it goes from using the drug to numb pain to abuse and ultimately addiction, which is hard to overcome.When you think of opioid addiction, your mind goes straight to the homeless on the streets, but there are people of all socio-economic status, race, a religion that are dealing with addictive disorders with an opioid. Some people can be from wealthy families, and that can make the issue much more difficult to treat because there's always a form of denial with them.Opioid addiction is now an epidemic. People are dropping dead today than any other time in history. A probable cause of this is that now opioids are produced chemically. Fentanyl is a fully synthetic compound, which means it's not using parts of the opioid poppy or plants anymore. Refining opioids made them even more powerful and refined down, which is useful but can dangerous.With these new drugs, some addictive properties were underreported and overprescribed. Oxycodone was changed to Oxyneo to try and become tamper-resistant such that you couldn’t snort, or crush them, or inject them. It is so powerful that changing the mode of ingestion made it a whole different drug. It's effective in suppressing pain but incredibly dangerous, and this is what led to allegations that the pharmaceutical responsible for it knew about how addictive this drug could become but just gave it out as a safe alternative.It’s been discovered that taking the same amount of opioid over a given amount of time will start to have a lesser effect which can become an issue even in a regimented regular opioid use in problems like chronic pain.Although there are other forms of treatment, the oldest and probably the best is taking all the opioid drugs, trade them all in and get a monitored, measured, regular dose of methadone. This can control the withdrawal symptoms, and it can also withdraw a considerable amount of perceived pain. It's not an easy fix, though, but it's helpful. However, one thing that Christopher has found in his practice is that the treatment differs between teenagers and adults. For teenagers, you need to have a form of active outdoor activity that leads to relationships if you want a chance of having a therapeutic relationship with them.By all means, if you know anyone dealing with any addiction it might be friends, family, or even yourself, just come out of the shadows and ask for help. There are different kinds of support out there, and you only have to make an effort to know what will work for you. Not all routes you use will work, but don't give up, try something different. You can get your life back and live the kind of life you want to ultimately.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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’s experience came about when she was working in public mental health. She worked extra hours, focused more on her staff and clients, and she burned out because she was so passionate about what she was doing to the point of neglecting self-care. After going out solo, she realized it was important for helpers to take care of themselves because if not, eventually, the help they offer won't be available.Within the profession, it’s often expected of you to be overly benevolent out of the goodness of your heart, so when you ask for money, or set limits and say no sometimes there can be a backlash from the society. It's expected of you to do this. However, part of your helping has to have some limits because you need to empower people to start their recovery on their own. Access if the client’s emergency call is a crisis or if it's possible for them to problem-solve on their own and practice self-soothing techniques. Yes, it’s hard to say no to a client at a critical moment, but learning to set limits helps tremendously in improving your service.Most often than not, when you started feeling as though your clients should cancel on appointments or grumpy, or you feel fatigued and burned out, it's a sign that you’ve started or are giving too much already. At this point, you can't care much anymore, and it's a clear sign that you should take some time off and do some consultation. Never risk your recovery for someone else’s.The first recovery of the syndrome is recognizing you’ve got a problem. You should then address it efficiently and start making time for yourself. Set aside some time to do some mandatory extracurricular activities, e.g., meeting up a friend, shopping, surfing, etc. Make sure you hold yourself accountable or find an accountability partner. Accountability will help you make better choices and get some well-deserved rest. You're valuable, take care of yourself.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 week. It can be directly related to sobriety, but it doesn’t have to be. Crosstalk is encouraged. People interrupt to ask questions, offer support, or share similar experiences.Two concepts undergird LifeRing’s philosophy: the 3 S’s and the addict self – sober self-conflict. The 3 S’s are sobriety, secularity, and self-help. Sobriety because LifeRing is an abstinence-based program. Secularity because LifeRing promotes models of recovery generated by human effort. And self-help because LifeRing believes that each individual’s journey to sobriety is their own, and the role of the group is to reinforce each individual’s motivation and efforts. The conflict between the Addict Self and the Sober Self represents LifeRing’s belief about the nature of addiction recovery. The process of recovery involves strengthening and reinforcing the sober self. The addict self will always be there, but we can do everything in our power to amplify our desire to live a fulfilled, sober life.In this episode we also talk about: The intervention that led to Jason’s recovery Atheism and recovery Why LifeRing’s meeting format and absence of an organized doctrine are important to Jason The differences between LifeRing, 12-step programs, and other peer support groups Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 prevent people from getting the help they need. Digital communication is a bigger part of our culture than ever, and much of human connection today is digitally enabled.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.