On Good Authority: Publishing the Book that Will Build Your Business

A listener was told by her sponsor that because she takes anti-depressants, she isn't actually sober. Dr. Josh Lichtman gives his take.

I'm going to have to be honest here: I'm very invested in Paul Fuhr's recovery—and it's not just because I am a selfless person. I've gotten to know Paul, you see, because he wrote me a fan email several years ago about this very podcast. How lovely was it? Well I'm a hardened soul and it made me cry.  But here's the really fabulous part: after that email, Paul wrote a story on spec for the site I was then editing. And it was brilliant. Cut to: Paul becoming AfterParty's most prolific writer. Every story he turned in examined a different aspect of recovery in a way that was wholly original, clever, and passionate. (Side note: because Paul is incredibly modest, he never told me until we recorded this very episode that he had a Masters in English and had worked as an editor. I had been patting myself on the back for years over having "discovered" him.) Our conversation did not disappoint. Please listen and learn how a brilliant guy with a wife, three kids, a career managing dozens of people found and then handles sobriety.

A listener's psychiatrist diagnosed her as Bipolar 2. Then she found out the psychiatrist was wrong. What is Bipolar 2 and how is it different than regular old Bipolar 1?

Aussie entrepreneur James Swanwick has been an ESPN anchor on SportsCenter, is the author of ‘Insider Journalism Secrets’ and is the co-founder of international agency, Crocmedia. He has been a print or TV journalist for 20 years, writing for newspapers and magazines in the US, UK and Australia. These include Associated Press, Sky Sports, ESPN, WPLJ radio, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Daily Telegraph, The Sun, Sky Movie Channel, Q104FM, Loaded magazine, Woman’s Day, The Courier-Mail and much more. He also sells the coolest blue-blocking glasses around, hosts an eponymously titled hit podcast and runs any number of other successful online ventures. But the reason I had him on the pod was to discuss his 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge, a program he developed after he decided to quit drinking because he was tired of “just existing in the world.” His program isn’t for alcoholics but for people like him—those who feel that drinking is preventing them from living the best lives they can. (Swanwick’s experience, by the by, is that he followed those 30 days of not drinking with continued abstinence; it’s now been years.)

Psychiatrist Dr. Josh Lichtman answers the question: what the hell is a co-occurring disorder?

Brandon Novak shouldn’t be alive. The professional skateboarder, New York Times bestseller author and member of the Jackass crew has hit all the pit stops on the way to the bottom: homelessness, multiple trips to rehab, incarceration and the like. But somehow, some way, the 38-year-old from Baltimore had a moment of clarity on May 25, 2015 and nothing’s been the same since. The guy who once passed a UA in jail by using his cellmate’s urine has transitioned into a recovery evangelist, flying all over the country to help those struggling with addiction and get them into treatment. Just how serious is he about it? Well, he gives out his personal cell phone number (610-635-9092) and encourages anyone who thinks they need help to call it. When I interviewed Novak, the Baltimore native was visiting LA where he was making a series of appearances advocating for recovery. And how’s this for irony? The hotel room where we did the interview ended up a little bit thrashed but I was the one who thrashed it. To understand how that happened, you’ve got to listen to the whole episode.

In this episode of Recover Girl, Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Sirah, joins me for a brutally honest conversation about her disturbing, crazy, wonderful life of dysfunction, addiction, crime, and music.

Ian Harvie is the groundbreaking transgender stand-up comedian whom you may have seen in the Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning TV series TRANSPARENT. In this episode of Recover Girl, Ian Harvie joined me on my couch to talk about his childhood in rural Maine, his journey to discovering his true gender identity, his recovery from alcoholism, and his new life in sobriety as a trans comic.

Jemima Kirke, the talented actress known for her role as Jessa on 'Girls,' shares her candid journey through addiction and recovery. She discusses the ups and downs of various rehabs, exposing their flaws and the notion of trauma bonding with her now husband. Kirke challenges conventional ideas about sobriety, revealing her experience of drinking after years of abstinence without negative consequences. From self-worth dynamics to navigating emotional discomfort, she encourages a personal and nuanced understanding of addiction and recovery.

Writer and comedian Mara Shapshay has had a life of inarguable highs and lows: Growing up outside Boston as the daughter of a sex therapist, Shapshay felt alienated as the only Jewish girl at her school (not to mention the only girl whose mother talked extensively about oral sex). After a traumatic incident in Israel, Shapshay turned to opiates and alcohol; they helped her through film school at NYU, after which she landed in LA and promptly married a gay man. Stints at rehab followed but they didn't take and Shapshay ended up homeless and living in her car. Then she randomly met Carrie Fisher and asked her for help. Next thing she knew, Shapshay was living with Fisher and helping the late actress through shock treatments. Now over a decade sober, Shapshay is a practicing Orthodox Jew married to a sober (not gay) Orthodox Jew. And she's determined to carry on Fisher's mission to spread awareness about mental health. In this episode, we discuss why mental illness carries more of a stigma than addiction, the lure of celebrity and the difference between trust and faith, among many other topics.