Justifying Substance Use with Self-Created Drama

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Justifying Substance Use with Self-Created Drama You had a spat with your co-worker, then you go home and your spouse starts to nag you about something they had asked you to do weeks ago. You know that you put it off, then forgot to do...

Do You Believe Your Life Can Be Better?

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Do You Believe Your Life Can Be Better?   Are you still struggling with heavy substance use? It might be that you want to change your preference, but you don’t really believe that you can. You just might believe that your life...
Drugs Don’t Have a Mind of Their Own

Drugs Don’t Have a Mind of Their Own

“Drinking makes my stress go away.” “I get things done when I do meth. It makes me motivated.” “Drinking makes me more social, I don’t feel so nervous when I’m buzzed up.” “I can say the things I normally can’t say. Substances help with my lack of assertiveness.”...

Focus On Benefits of Change and Move On From Addiction

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Focus On Benefits of Change and Move On From Addiction   When people are trying to change their substance use, the addiction treatment model is to focus on the negative consequences you’ve experienced and will keep experiencing due...

Helping Your Loved One Struggling With Addiction

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Helping Your Loved One Struggling With Addiction   Massive misinformation about addiction harms families of those who are struggling as much as it harms the substance user. In this Episode of The Addiction Solution, Freedom Model...

You Don’t Have to Quit!

The Addiction Solution Podcast  You Don’t Have to Quit! “When you think you must do something, you’re not owning it. You are obscuring the fact that it truly is your choice.” If you try to quit heavy substance use because you feel obligated,...

Bridging the Gap While Making a Preference Change

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Bridging the Gap While Making a Preference Change If you want to change your substance use habit, but still have a strong preference for intoxication, changing can seem impossible. While The Freedom Model states that mindlessly trying...

What Is Your New Self Image? The Addiction Solution Podcast’s 100th Episode

The Addiction Solution Podcast  What Is Your New Self Image? The Addiction Solution Podcast’s 100th Episode Many heavy substance users struggle to envision a life without heavy intoxication with their preferred substance. Oftentimes they hold the self image of...

Purgatory Between Recovery and Freedom

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Purgatory Between Recovery and Freedom If you’ve found The Freedom Model and it makes sense to you, but you are still holding onto some of the beliefs in the AA and recovery world, that’s a tough place to be and you’re...

Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup and Learning the Magical Powers of Substances

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup and Learning the Magical Powers of Substances In the 1800’s opiates were legal and advertised honestly for the pharmacological benefits they provided: cough suppression, physical pain relief,...

Demystifying Substance Effects

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Demystifying Substance Effects Drugs and alcohol are often thought to have varying effects on someone’s thoughts.  For example, certain drugs and substances take away anxiety, make you more outgoing, make you depressed, etc.  Or...

The Freedom Model’s Expansion to Change the World

The Addiction Solution Podcast  The Freedom Model’s Expansion to Change the World How do you change a well-entrenched paradigm? You do the research to debunk it. You begin helping people with that new information. You abandon the erroneous language and show...

Addiction Treatment Hurts Families

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Addiction Treatment Hurts Families In today’s episode, Mark and Michelle explain how Addiction Treatment can have various harmful effects on families.  We’ve helped families work through various mental, emotional, and...

Are You the Family F*ck up?

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Are You the Family F*ck up? If you’ve ever been told or thought of yourself as the “family f**k-up” then this episode of The Addiction Solution Podcast is for you! Both Mark and Michelle were told this and thus...

The Allure of the Binge, and How to Stop It

The Addiction Solution Podcast  The Allure of the Binge, and How to Stop It This is the second podcast in recent episodes that addresses the binge cycle. Mark and Michelle tackle the binge habit from a different angle, shedding real light on why it’s so alluring...

Replacing AA with Freedom Model International

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Replacing AA with Freedom Model International As our audience has grown, and continues to grow, the need has arisen to create a community of people who have rejected the addiction/treatment/recovery religion. While no one needs support...

Don’t Get Distracted by Recovery Processes

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Don’t Get Distracted by Recovery Processes Do you have to go to meetings, identify your character defects and read them to your sponsor, go to the gym, or join a church? Do you have to become more spiritual, more selfless, kinder,...

Stopping Addiction without Willpower

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Stopping Addiction without Willpower Most people think willpower is needed to stop drinking or drug using, especially when they’ve developed a habit of drinking or using heavily. And while it is true that you may be able to stop...

How to Stop the Binge Drinking/Drug Using Cycle

The Addiction Solution Podcast  How to Stop the Binge Drinking/Drug Using Cycle If you’ve been trying to stop your heavy substance use, and you now find yourself in a cycle of heavy binge use for a few days, total abstinence for days, weeks, or months, and then...

Beware of Non-12 Step Imposters!

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Beware of Non-12 Step Imposters! As more and more people seeking help for addiction are seeking alternatives to 12 step-based treatment, rehabs, and meetings, more and more treatment programs, and rehabs are advertising they offer a...

There are No Causes of Addiction

The Addiction Solution Podcast  There are No Causes of Addiction In this episode of The Addiction Solution Podcast, we discuss how there are no causes of addiction. Chapter 6 of The Freedom Model for Addictions is entitled “Learned Connections” and it...

Don’t Mindlessly Count Sober Days

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Don’t Mindlessly Count Sober Days In this episode of The Addiction Solution Podcast, Mark and Michelle take on the practice of counting “sober days” and explain the inherent problems with that being the primary focus...

Does Anyone Need Addiction Treatment?

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Does Anyone Need Addiction Treatment? If you tell someone you think you might have a problem with alcohol or drugs, most people will tell you to get yourself into rehab. There is a belief in our culture that addiction is a disease and...

Breaking Out of a Rut Is Easier Than You Think

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Breaking Out of a Rut Is Easier Than You Think Are you in a comfortable rut? Do you have a habit that you liked at one time but is no longer satisfying? Do you feel stuck? Know that everyone does from time to time. You can break out of...
Social and Environmental Factors DO NOT Cause Addiction

Social and Environmental Factors DO NOT Cause Addiction

In The Freedom Model for Addictions, Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap, we discuss the erroneous, but common idea, that environmental and social factors cause addiction. The fact that both your environment (lifestyle, home, and career, etc.) and your social life...
Here are 5 Benefits of Spending Some Time Abstinent

Here are 5 Benefits of Spending Some Time Abstinent

In addiction recovery, you have two options: heavy, uncontrolled substance use that leads to jails, institutions, and death, or complete abstinence from all substances whether you like it or not. And in treatment/recovery the primary motivator for abstinence is...

Making a Change Doesn’t Have to be Overwhelming

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Making a Change Doesn’t Have to be Overwhelming While it may seem overwhelming to rebuild your life in addition to solving addiction, it doesn’t have to be. In this episode of The Addiction Solution Podcast, Freedom Model...
It’s Time to Rethink Addiction

It’s Time to Rethink Addiction

What do you do when you make a mistake? Do you ruminate on it for hours, days, or even weeks? Do you beat yourself up about it, feeling as if you must be a terrible, broken person to have done such a thing? Or do you fix it, if possible, and move on from it a bit...

Let Go of Guilt and Shame and Solve Your Addiction

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Let Go of Guilt and Shame and Solve Your Addiction The addiction treatment and 12 step model heaps on guilt and shame for your heavy use as a means to get you to stop it, but it doesn’t work. Listen as Mark and Michelle explain...

Solving Your Addictions with The Freedom Model

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Solving Your Addictions with The Freedom Model Addiction is a cultural construct. It is everywhere in our society. So even if you are not a believer in the disease theory, if you have ever felt addicted, you have likely taken on certain...
Attention Parents: Know This – Addiction Isn’t Forever!

Attention Parents: Know This – Addiction Isn’t Forever!

One thing I’ve learned in helping people move past their addictions over the last 31 years, is that parents of an addicted son or daughter are scared. I mean really scared. They live in near-constant anxiety, fear and worry that their loved one will be OK. Worse yet,...

The Surprising Way to Stop Drinking

The Addiction Solution Podcast  The Surprising Way to Stop Drinking People struggling with heavy drinking or substance use often believe that once they start, they can’t stop.  This myth has been at the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 step...
Addiction Is Not What You Think It Is

Addiction Is Not What You Think It Is

Confusion is a cancer to the truth, and clarity is the only antidote to that cancer. One of the most confusing concepts is the belief that drinking and drugging “change the brain” making the habit impossible to stop or moderate without outside intervention or...

The Mind, The Brain, and Addiction

The Addiction Solution Podcast  The Mind, The Brain, and Addiction How do the brain and the mind work together in the process of forming habits (aka addictions)? Mark Scheeren and Michelle Dunbar have a discussion about how people develop addictions and more...

Renewal: Moving On from a Troubled Past

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Renewal: Moving On from a Troubled Past What do you do when you realize you’ve made a mistake? Do you define yourself by it? Do you beat yourself up about it? Do you spend days or weeks ruminating on it; feeling shameful and...

Factors that Amplify a Preference for Intoxication

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Factors that Amplify a Preference for Intoxication Looking in from the outside people that love a heavy substance user cannot understand why they keep using in spite of the negative consequences they are experiencing and sometimes even...

Top 12 Most Ridiculous Slogans from Alcoholics Anonymous

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Top 12 Most Ridiculous Slogans from Alcoholics Anonymous After spending the first half of their lives in AA, Freedom Model developers Mark Scheeren and Michelle Dunbar experienced their fair share of AA’s “slogan...
Intervention for Addiction Is Harmful – There Is a Better Way

Intervention for Addiction Is Harmful – There Is a Better Way

There are not many things in life more difficult or troubling than dealing with a loved one that is struggling with an addiction. Whether your loved one is 16, 36 or 60, watching them self-destruct before your very eyes can make you feel helpless and hopeless. You may...

Does Forcing People Into Addiction Treatment Work?

The Addiction Solution Podcast  Does Forcing People Into Addiction Treatment Work? Watching someone struggle with an addiction can be frightening for those who are close to them. In desperation, many people resort to hiring an addiction professional to do an...
Why Recovery Prevents True Freedom From Addiction

Why Recovery Prevents True Freedom From Addiction

When people mention the word “recovery” from addiction, they have a certain image in their mind of an addict or alcoholic who has decided to quit their habit, has accepted their “disease”, and usually, they’ve attended some form of treatment for their affliction. In...

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