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 lif...
May 23, 2022•50 min•Ep. 182
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 struggl...
May 16, 2022•42 min•Ep. 181
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 addic...
May 09, 2022•42 min
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 conversatio...
May 02, 2022•37 min
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 t...
Apr 25, 2022•37 min•Ep. 178
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 tryi...
Apr 18, 2022•46 min•Ep. 177
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...
Apr 11, 2022•37 min•Ep. 176
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...
Apr 04, 2022•29 min•Ep. 175
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...
Mar 28, 2022•37 min•Ep. 174
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...
Mar 21, 2022•36 min•Ep. 173
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 mu...
Mar 14, 2022•54 min•Ep. 172
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...
Mar 07, 2022•54 min•Ep. 171
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: ...
Mar 03, 2022•54 min
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 ...
Feb 28, 2022•47 min•Ep. 170
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 whe...
Feb 21, 2022•49 min•Ep. 169
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 ...
Feb 14, 2022•41 min•Ep. 165
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 ever...
Feb 07, 2022•38 min•Ep. 167
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. Benj...
Jan 31, 2022•40 min•Ep. 166
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 t...
Jan 24, 2022•40 min•Ep. 165
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 ...
Jan 17, 2022•41 min•Ep. 164
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 m...
Jan 10, 2022•43 min•Ep. 163
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 r...
Dec 27, 2021•39 min•Ep. 161
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 r...
Dec 20, 2021•35 min•Ep. 157
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...
Dec 13, 2021•39 min•Ep. 159
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, w...
Dec 06, 2021•47 min•Ep. 158
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 h...
Nov 29, 2021•49 min•Ep. 157
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 me...
Nov 22, 2021•47 min•Ep. 156
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 r...
Nov 15, 2021•48 min•Ep. 155
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 fi...
Nov 08, 2021•40 min•Ep. 152
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...
Nov 01, 2021•45 min
