Is alcohol inherently harmful, or is the way we talk about it the real problem? In this episode, Dr. Stanton Peele and Zach Rhoads tackle the cultural contradictions around alcohol consumption. They break down why countries that drink more tend to have fewer alcohol-related harms, why "NO SAFE LEVEL" messaging is misleading, and how a temperance mindset might actually INCREASE problem drinking. They also explore how harm reduction isn't about numbers -- it's about life. Tune in for a no-nonsense...
Feb 13, 2025•50 min
An alarming statistic from the NIH: 17% of 12-17 year olds in the united states is mentally unwell. What accounts for this, and what can we do about it? (Hint: we've been trying antidepressants and therapy for decades and the problem has only become worse). Zach and Dr. Peele drill deeper. ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeProcessProgram?sub_confirmation=1 ***** FOLLOW us on Social ***** - Facebook: https://facebook.co...
Oct 09, 2023•34 min
This is a playback of a 2018 episode of the LPP Podcast in which we discuss the following: The Life Process Program takes clients through a staged review of their life stories, focusing first on mistakes, continuing to how they might have acted differently to avoid these pitfalls, to re-conceiving their life stories to focus on positives, and finally to projecting their life stories forward into positive, life-fulfilling narratives. In today’s episode we incorporate LPP exercises and examples of...
Oct 07, 2023•52 min
Dr. Mario Martinez is a neuropsychologist who lectures worldwide on how cultural beliefs affect health and longevity. He is also the author of The Mind Body Code --- which you can check out on amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/MindBody-Code-Beliefs-Longevity-Success/dp/1622037618 Importantly, Mario studies culture and belief systems, and how they affect longevity and well-being. (As opposed to a more conventional belief -- that genes pull the strings of our ultimate fate.) Zach explicates them...
Oct 06, 2023•54 min
Zach Rhoads follows Dr. Peele's previous 5 "Ted Talks" -- 10 minute talks about addiction, natural recovery, harm reduction, and commonsense strategies for overcoming addiction. In his latest talk, Peele also laid out a "helping professional's" Bill of Rights, which instructs the following be present in helping individuals achieve a greater sense of well-being: (1) refuting idea that addiction is permanent inescapable disease (2) enabling people to realize valuable lives (3) encouraging responsi...
Jul 12, 2023•11 min
Rat Park and Vietnam tell us two crucial things about addiction and recovery. They first show that recovery is a natural process when the organism returns to a normally rewarding and supportive environment. Even more importantly — certainly not the rats, but the human beings in Vietnam were never conditioned to think of themselves as “addicts.” Thus their identities were never trapped, which is the hardest thing to overcome. ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and hel...
Jul 08, 2023•11 min•Season 4Ep. 8
In this short video, addiction psychologist Dr. Stanton Peele explains that people quit addictions by finding ways to live their values (as opposed to simply choosing 'techniques'). He lays out the following points I. Dr. Peele's Uncle Ozzie quits smoking, suddenly II. Such a powerful addiction: how can a person do that (1) oh it’s only cigarettes (2) a HIGHER percentage of people quit cocaine heroin alcohol addictions III. Actually, at their basis, THIS is how everyone quits an addiction IV. It...
Jul 05, 2023•9 min•Season 4Ep. 7
If common experiences are at the core of addiction, how do we define addictive experiences so as to distinguish them from ordinary ones? ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeProcessProgram?sub_confirmation=1 ***** FOLLOW us on Social ***** - Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifeprocessprogram - Twitter : https://twitter.com/lifeprocessprgm - Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifeprocessprogram - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedi...
Jul 01, 2023•5 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Dr. Stanton Peele Delivers His OWN Ted Talk (From home), in response to Judson Brewer's talk, "A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-moW9jvvMr4 Summary: Have you noticed confusion, conflict and disastrous failures across the board around drugs and addiction? We at Life Process Program have (unfortunately) understood the hole we’ve been digging for ourselves for years. To dig ourselves out, we have to comprehend addiction, understand that it’s not some chemical side ...
Mar 19, 2023•12 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Several of our clients have told us something to the effect of: “I know that Meaning/purpose in life is a bulwark against addiction. But I’m ____ (45 - 65) years old…. I have failed relationships / estranged kids… It’s hard to find meaning” Dr. Peele and LPP coach Zach Rhoads help our 50+ year old clients begin to generate a optimistic but practical Life-Purpose Road Map TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro to LPP 1:28 Episode intro 4:36 Meaningful Work @ 50+ 9:57 Meaningful Hobbies 19:25 Making New Friends 3...
Feb 14, 2023•43 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Zach Rhoads and Dr. Stanton Peele contemplate the transfer of knowledge about alcohol from Science to Society — and how imperfectly the job gets done. “Alcohol: Even a Little Bit Is Harmful!” the headline screams. It turns out that none of the experts interviewed advocates abstinence — including the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (now there’s a title!). In fact, those who drink, worldwide, live longer with fewer disabilities than those who never drink, accordi...
Jan 31, 2023•34 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Step by Step Change v Radical Transformation: Two LPP paths to the same destination Placing the person in the driver’s seat of their lives through each method. ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeProcessProgram?sub_confirmation=1 ***** FOLLOW us on Social ***** - Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifeprocessprogram - Twitter : https://twitter.com/lifeprocessprgm - Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifeprocessprogram - Linked...
Jan 02, 2023•37 min•Season 4Ep. 2
How did the main theme in American life become confronting the lifetime effects of trauma, rather than triumphing over them? This preoccupation with trauma includes arguably the greatest stars in our universe: Anderson Cooper in political commentary, Taylor Swift in music, Serena Williams in sports, Steven Spielberg in movies. What does it signify about us that we now think of ourselves as permanently encumbered by such psychic chains? ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our cont...
Dec 12, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Tom Horvath (SMART Recovery) and Stanton Peele (Life Process Program) delve into their decades’ long association in the battle to establish non-disease, harm reduction treatment in the United States. Their connection is supportive, even affectionate. Each in their own way — Tom through his decades of establishing an international association of SMART Recovery groups, Stanton by attacking the disease lobby — has contributed to a shift in the treatment paradigm. Both SMART Recovery and the Life Pr...
Oct 10, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 17
There is a movement against use of labels like “alcoholism” and “addiction” as being pejorative and discouraging. 3 Zach and Stanton evaluate these critiques and discuss how to deal constructively with what some people call “loss of control” substance use. As always, their approach is to respect clients and their values, focus on the here and now, seek incremental and realistic improvements, and to not panic! ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https...
Aug 21, 2022•23 min•Season 3Ep. 16
We have embarked on a psychedelic renaissance, including use for both therapeutic and consciousness expansion purposes. In both cases the drug allows people to recast their consciousness — of themselves, of their worlds, of eternity. This shifting of the cosmic egg is captured by the title of the best seller (with accompanying Netflix docuseries) by Michael Pollan, How To Change Your Mind. Why would you want to change your mind? To rethink your life to live more productively, intimately, happily...
Aug 05, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 15
The new mental health hotline is buckshot. Who actually thinks that calling a stranger for a few minutes addresses problems of depression and anxiety? Indeed, the idea that this makes sense is a symbol of America’s despair and cluelessness. The hotline’s appearance in the aftermath of WHO’s June 17 World Mental Health Report, which pleaded for expanding nonexistent and disappearing community mental health resources, explains the plaintive tone of that document, which was created to refute quick ...
Jul 28, 2022•19 min•Season 3Ep. 14
Harm reduction once sensibly meant dealing with the whole person to reduce their likelihood of harming themselves. Common sense examples abounded — like helping people find work, residences, and communities. Now it has been narrowed to finding drugs that can cure addiction — an impossibility that implodes harm reduction on itself, losing both the meaning of the word and the power of the tool. ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https://www.youtube.co...
Jul 27, 2022•27 min•Season 3Ep. 13
When we learned smoking was addictive we threw out all common sense: that people ultimately choose their fates, that they are led that way by their privileges and values, and that to believe that things are died in the wool only makes it harder for us to change those things. Smoking became a bad habit to eschew, most people with advantages did that more or less, and the expense of smoking became the bad “luxury” of the poor and the deprived. All this true even as it is true to say smoking is add...
Jul 11, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Biological psychiatry has IMPLODED, and everyone knows it, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the long-time (2002-2015) director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Thomas Insel, biological psychiatry’s biggest booster. Yet, instead of the relief from mental illness and addiction Insel and the entire field have promised from the 1970s on, we are inundated with mental disorders and drug deaths. NOW WHAT? The WHO, Insel, and the ENTIRE FIELD are at a loss. With no there ther...
Jun 26, 2022•56 min•Season 3Ep. 11
How do you learn about people, about life? Questions. Yet again, how do you explore— and poke holes in— preposterous positions that people take? Questions. Finally, how do you help people come to grips with troubling life issues? You’ve got it— questions. What a versatile tool! ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeProcessProgram?sub_confirmation=1 ***** FOLLOW us on Social ***** - Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifeproces...
Jun 23, 2022•35 min•Season 3Ep. 10
The Netflix series “Ozark,” besides being a sustained “hit,” has several psychological and addiction merits. First, show runner and star Jason Batemen could have been a basket case child actor victim. Instead, he’s a role model. Second, Ozark depicts every variety of drug and alcohol use and reaction. ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeProcessProgram?sub_confirmation=1 ***** FOLLOW us on Social ***** - Facebook: https:/...
May 23, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 9
We don’t care if Johnny Depp wins his defamation suit against Amber Heard. Nor will we render an opinion about whether “mutual abuse” can be used to describe a relationship where there is such a power differential (on Depp’s end). What we will say is that both parties participated in an addictive relationship, one that both say destroyed their lives. ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeProcessProgram?sub_confirmation=1 *...
May 15, 2022•17 min•Season 3Ep. 8
The use of “misdirection” in MI Using outside-the-box life areas (e.g., intimate relationships) to explore blind-alley areas of concern (e.g., alcohol), and how MI allows Chris Rock and and Will Smith to understand their difficulties in expressing painful emotions constructively. ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our content and help us grow: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeProcessProgram?sub_confirmation=1 ***** FOLLOW us on Social ***** - Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifeproc...
Apr 22, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 7
How do we respond to virtually insane behavior by vital, creative women who devote their lives to petty shysters and hoodlums who rip them off and destroy their livelihoods, families, lives? We can issue warnings about checking out online hook-ups. But the signs are always there, background checks or no (hints: when they say they are secret agents, ask endlessly for money, cut off your family connections, etc.) Yet brilliant women still go down the tubes. Take the case of “The Bad Vegan,” Sarma ...
Mar 27, 2022•38 min•Season 3Ep. 6
AA doesn’t dominate the alcohol and drug scene the way it did in the last century. Harm Reduction has become a new buzz word, claimed by the most unlikely sources. Meanwhile, popular streaming media depict the reality of a wide variety of substance use patterns by younger generations. And, yet, as demonstrated by series like “Single Drunk Female” and “Euphoria,” when it comes to “recovery” there’s only one game in town — 12-step “sobriety.” ***** SUBSCRIBE to Our Channel ***** To get more of our...
Mar 20, 2022•31 min•Season 3Ep. 5
The podcast “Sweet Bobby” raises the question, “What do you call it when a talented, caring woman devotes ten years of her life to an imaginary character, and can still barely function in the aftermath?” Unfortunately, Tortoise Media is not up to the task. Just like America blames drug manufacturers for our drug deaths epidemic while it rages on, interviewer Alexi Mostrous blames the wiles of the perpetrator of this hoax. He thus has no tools—or ideas—for helping a woman with as severe a love ad...
Mar 07, 2022•39 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Dr. Stanton Peele and Zach Rhoads respond to listener feedback. First, they inspect the old AA adage, "One day at a time" Then they turn to a case study centered on a former LPP participant (with her permission) -- a case study on overeating and how to manage it in the larger context of a person's life. Finally, they discuss former Genesis drummer Phil Collins' UNREMARKABLE story of natural recovery -- a story that he, himself tells in his memoir as well as this interview: https://www.axs.tv/cha...
Feb 28, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Does love addiction exist?” commentators question. Yet our most popular streaming media stories are replete with the cases of people whose lives are severely disturbed by harmful, irrational intimate involvements — up to an including death. Take “Dirty John” Meehan (who is dead at the hands of a victim) and Betty Broderick (who killed her exhusband and his replacement wife). Then there are the hundred of thousands of dollars harvested by the Tinder Swindler from women trolling for love. ***** SU...
Feb 20, 2022•28 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Is AA helpful? Some people claim that AA offers specific benefits. We should say that we endorse anybody’s right to pursue any form of support or treatment they want, or find helpful, from AA to religion. But our training and experience cause us to doubt AA’s supposed benefits. One such claim is that making amends to people alcoholics have hurt is a way of reconstructing damaged relationships. But we find that a very indirect way of going about the process of examining and improving relationship...
Feb 17, 2022•28 min•Season 3Ep. 2
