The Addicted Mind Podcast

Have you ever heard of the phrase, “Boys make choices, men make decisions”? What’s the difference? On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Carlos Navarro, who has a 20-year entertainment career that spans from radio, television, and film, to commercials and video games. He has acted on shows and films as The Walking Dead, The Outsider, Unbreakable, and Marvel's Hawkeye. Carlos is also co-host of the number one rated Orlando, Florida talk show, Monsters in the Morning.Along with that journey, he was also struggling with alcoholism, until he finally made the decision to quit drinking. Listen in as Carlos walks us through his journey to sobriety and why he believes it's a moral obligation to share his story to help others. Carlos is frank about his past experience of drinking where he was just oblivious to how he was and the impact he had on others. Then he finally realized he needed to change and do something different. Sobriety has now become a big part of his life as he also helps others who may be struggling. In this episode, you will hear: Carlos’ addiction and recovery journey Making a choice versus making a decision The power of journaling and planning Why willpower doesn’t work Identifying the things you want and writing them down The power of sharing your story. Subscribe and ReviewHave 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.iamcarlosnavarro.com NovusMindfulLife.comEpisode CreditsIf 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

Anybody can be impacted by addiction, whether you’re a doctor or not. And for certain people in healthcare, anesthesiologists most especially, access to drugs like opioids is super easy. On this episode, Duane speaks with Steven Orebaugh about how his own personal experiences of witnessing his colleagues get trapped in addiction inspired him to write the book, “The Stairs on Billy Buck Hill.” He wrote the book having witnessed a number of ruined careers among his peers because they have access to these highly addictive substances. And so, Steven hopes that his book will help fellow physicians and healthcare workers create that healthy fear so they could steer clear of addiction.Steven is an anesthesiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He has published some 75 works in the medical literature, including peer-reviewed articles, textbook chapters, and review articles. In this episode, you will hear: Why anesthesiologists have easy access to drugs Understanding how opioids become the downfall of some people The impact addiction has on physicians addicted to drugs About the book, The Stairs on Billy Buck Hill Dealing with the shame and guilt as a doctor The need for emotional support Nurturing a healthy fear Subscribe and ReviewHave 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.steveorebaugh.com/ The Stairs on Billy Buck Hillhttps://www.amazon.com/Stairs-Billy-Buck-Hill/dp/1620068664 NovusMindfulLife.comEpisode CreditsIf 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

As a parent, how do you deal with a child who’s struggling with addiction? How can you fully support your kid at this most trying time of their lives? Today, Duane speaks with Steve D. about parenting a child with addiction. A father of five children, the youngest of whom had a near-lethal addiction to alcohol, Steve retired from a 30-year career on Wall Street to learn about addiction, to help his family, and to help others. Steve’s eight-year journey includes getting trained as a parent peer addiction coach, completing a fellowship at Harvard University studying addiction, co-creating a podcast called My Child & Addiction and volunteering at a national addiction nonprofit to create educational tools for families. Recently, he developed a free resource, Love the Kid, Hate the Disease, with a mission to deliver the most important information, concepts, tools, and personal experiences from his 8 years of dealing with addiction to help parents and caregivers better understand the disease and help address it.Steve is the EVP for Shatterproof, a nonprofit with a mission to help businesses and communities educate their constituencies about the disease of addiction and the most effective, evidence-based treatment practices.In this episode, you will hear: Understanding that there is hope The importance of setting boundaries His child’s addiction and recovery journey The importance of telling personal stories about addiction The value of a parent support group meeting The power of sharing your story Subscribe and ReviewHave 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:Shatterproofhttps://www.shatterproof.org/ My Child & Addictionhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-child-addiction/id1233772510 NovusMindfulLife.comEpisode CreditsIf 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

Using hypnosis on ourselves is more powerful than we think. But is it also effective in treating addiction? On today’s episode, Duane speaks with David Spiegel, Wilson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Having been at Stanford for over 45 years, David runs the Center on Stress and Health at Stanford and the Center for Integrative Medicine. One of his interests is to find out how people can better control their minds and bodies using hypnosis. David talks about hypnosis, how that works, how suggestibility works in the brain, how it can help us, and the top-down processing, and how our unconscious can really help us heal. David has used hypnosis with about 7,000 people in his career now, and he has published more than 100 papers of research on hypnosis: what it is, how it works, and what it does. In this episode, you will hear: How hypnosis works in providing mind-body comfort How hypnosis can help with addiction, cravings, and pain relief Playing the role of a parent to your own body About the Reveri app  Giving pain the right amount of attention, and not more than it needs Why get a licensed and trained professional to help you with this Subscribe and ReviewHave 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:Reveri appNovusMindfulLife.comEpisode CreditsIf 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

Drinking when pregnant is a cultural norm. In fact, one in seven pregnant people reports consuming alcohol during pregnancy (which is pretty high). A significant number of pregnant women haven’t been told by their physicians that it’s not safe to drink while pregnant, and some even tell them it’s safe. But no amount or type of alcohol is safe to consume during pregnancy.Prevent fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD) along with so many of the lifelong effects including substance use, poor mental health outcomes, and incarceration can be associated with alcohol during pregnancy. On today's conversation, Duane and Jackie Franks talk about the importance of prevention and raising awareness about this issue. We have to create more awareness to help prevent a lot of future problems, conditions, and experiences with law enforcement or incarceration. And if we think upstream, the prevention of prenatal exposure to alcohol is the most important thing. Jackie is the executive director of the Indiana Alliance on Prenatal Substance Exposure. They recently launched BRAIN, a first-of-its-kind, online FASD screening tool that assesses cognitive and behavioral features associated with FASD. In this episode, you will hear: How FASD is diagnosed as ADHD How to know FASD is present Social determinants of health and prevention Statistics on alcohol consumption during pregnancy The link between FASD and addiction About the BRAIN screening tool Subscribe and ReviewHave 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:Indiana Alliance on Prenatal Substance Exposurehttps://inalliancepse.org/ BRAIN screening toolhttps://inalliancepse.org/brain-online/ NovusMindfulLife.comEpisode CreditsIf 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

Recovery is a long and difficult process, but it can be done. And once you’re able to combine spiritual habits with behavior change, the results can be amazing! On today’s conversation, Duane speaks with Eric Zimmer, the host of The One You Feed Podcast and the genius behind the Spiritual Habits Program, where he takes spiritual wisdom and combines it with behavior change so people can make the changes they need and find joy and healing in their lives. When he was 24 years old, Eric found himself as a 100-pound, homeless heroin addict who had hepatitis C and was looking at going to jail for about 50 years. He got sober at 25 and stayed sober for about eight years until he went out and drank again. He has been sober 15 years since then. He was doing really good on the outside, but he was just as sick as that homeless heroin addict at 24. Eric shares more about his journey today – his road to recovery and how he’s now helping other people through their own recovery journey.In this episode, you will hear: What spirituality is Open-mindedness and curiosity as key elements of recovery What spiritual habits are – and how to develop them Using emotional triggers for the positive The importance of a community that supports you The benefits of group coaching Subscribe and ReviewHave 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:The One You Feed Podcasthttps://www.oneyoufeed.net/ NovusMindfulLife.comEpisode CreditsIf 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

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 receive treatment. Dr. Sealy is working to change that. We are excited to bring to you today all the latest research, methodology, and new insight that will be liberating for many in the recovery process. This will be an episode that is helpful and encouraging to those who are in recovery. Help and hope are available for you.More to learn in this episode: How our understanding and controversy of Sex Addiction has changed since the study was pioneered. Understanding the diagnosis of Sexual Addiction. The co-morbid conditions that we see playing a major role in Sex Addiction recovery. How the unique cognitive hallmarks of ADD make it a likely co-morbid condition for addiction. ResourcesWork with Dr. Sealy: https://novusmindfullife.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is value in your struggles. But also part of working through your struggles is the ability to ask for help and find a community that has the capacity to support you. On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Dane Ensley, the founder of Reconstruction Unlimited, a mental health coaching agency that designs therapeutic ecosystems for clients. Dane has worked as a coach for the world's leading interventionists and has traveled the world working with a broad spectrum of clients. Dane's encouraging attitude, patience, and understanding allowed him to carve a very distinct path in the wellness industry. His core belief is that good things can be born from struggle. He also believes that everything good that has ever happened to him was a direct result of him helping someone else. Hear more of Dane's own recovery story and how we can turn our struggles into positive change. In this episode, you will hear: The man box that we’re taught as men Finding value in the struggles Seeking out healthy challenges to grow from The importance of solitude Finding your community Developing the muscle to ask for help Subscribe and ReviewHave 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:Reconstruction Unlimitedhttps://www.reconstructionunlimited.com/ Instagram: @reconstructionunlimited and @daneensleyNovusMindfulLife.comEpisode CreditsIf 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

It’s so easy to get lost in the mundanity of life that we lose sight of each present moment. But what if we just focused on today, and make each day our Day One?On today’s episode, Duane speaks with J.D. Frost, author of the book, Life Ledger: How to Build a System to Reach Your Goals, where he dives into the concept of Day One, the power of writing, and how keeping a daily ledger of your life helps you gain the clarity that you need to help you reach your goals. J.D. Frost is an accountant and the co-founder and CEO of Croft and Frost, a husband, and a father of three girls. J.D. started drinking at 19 years old and became an alcoholic. In January 2018, his family finally did an intervention for him – something he’s now super grateful for. In this episode, you will hear: The concept of day one To accomplish anything, you must write something down. How to get the habit of writing started Auditing your day through a daily ledger Accountability is a reminder of what you want. Subscribe and ReviewHave 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:NovusMindfulLife.comhttps://www.croftandfrost.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdfrost.today/ Life Ledgerhttps://www.amazon.com/Life-Ledger-Build-System-Reach/dp/1637583893 The Everyday Hero Manifesto by Robin Sharmahttps://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Hero-Manifesto-Robin-Sharma/dp/1443465356 Episode CreditsIf 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

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 Subscribe and ReviewHave 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:Wired For AddictionDr. Higgins’ TEDTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XNk8tNsaco NovusMindfulLife.comEpisode CreditsIf 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