This week, we wind a happy dance around the topics of alcohol addiction, addictive behaviours and recovery. We discuss AA and other fellowships as well as other options for getting support in freeing yourself from addiction. As always, there are tangents, personal stories and some swearing. There will also be triggers, this week around addiction and there's a brief mention of sexual assault, so please make sure you are fully resourced if you may be triggered.
This week is resource-tastic. Fill your Actual Boots. There’s a lot of help out there, and different people resonate with different approaches. A little disclaimer: neither of us resonated with AA or other fellowships, and we talk about this. Fellowships do work for many people, and thank goodness they do. They’re also accessible and affordable.
“If you have an addiction, you’re on a long road. If you want to be free of addiction, you need to get off that road. You could wait until you’re much further down it, and have experienced more pain, or you could get off now, and it’ll be easier. It’s up to you. It’s the same road.”
(in honour of Vincent Tilsley, who said something along these lines to Jude 20 years ago)
Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Control Alcohol
A tribute to Vincent Tilsley, the wonderful hypnotherapist mentioned in this episode, who I have in the past called ‘a curmudgeonly old shitbag’ and who was marvellous, warm and kind and used his skill very wisely. He died in 2013 and was very much loved.
Holly Whitaker’s Hip Sobriety Program
Home podcast (Holly Whitaker and Laura McKowen)
This Naked Mind (control alcohol) by Annie Grace
Healing Back Pain, by John Sarno (at Blackwell’s*)
Russell Brand Recovery: Freedom from our Addictions (at Blackwell’s)
When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chödrön (at Waterstone’s)
* If you’re buying books, please consider buying local. Independent bookshops will have an even harder time than usual at the moment. You might not get your book immediately, and you might pay the full retail price sometimes, but you’ll be supporting small businesses who are at risk of going under, which would be a MASSIVE shame. We usually post UK national links for books. We’ll never promote Amazon. They still don’t pay taxes and though they have a modern slavery statement, many people who’ve worked for them report inhumane conditions. As always, up to you.
Music: New Dawn by Ruth Blake. Listen to her music at www.ruthblake.com
Logo image based on Psychopomp by Hollie Chastain. Check out her art and amazing collage book at www.holliechastain.com
Logo design @ebz_agg