On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, we are joined by Robert Weiss, a digital-age intimacy and relationship expert and author of several insightful books on the topic (links below). Rob’s non-alarmist approach to the impacts of our digital age on intimacy and relationships as well as on the minds and futures of our children is refreshing and encouraging, while still reminding us to be aware and informed. In his 25 years in the industry, Rob has noticed significant shifts in the accessibility of pornography, leading to an increased prevalence of problems with porn in today’s society. While previous generations had to wait until a certain age to legally purchase or rent pornographic magazines and videos – usually from a grimy store in a defunct area of town – the internet has allowed today’s adolescents and adults immediate, free, and convenient access to porn. This eliminates the need for mentally processing whether gaining access to the porn is worth the effort, because it takes little to no effort at all. Additionally, there are similarities between porn addictions and gambling addictions in that both arenas provide the consumer with both unlimited material and anonymity, aiding their participation in the experience of anticipatory fantasy, always driven to keep going for the euphoria of seeing what comes next. For these compelling reasons, the consumption of pornography which could lead to an addiction is becoming a more prominent issue in our world, and with the coming universality of virtual reality in American households, experts are only expecting the issue to become larger. With the tolerance of overt sexuality in our culture, adolescents are prone to jump straight from flirting to sexual acts – either online or in person – and they are not learning the necessary social experiences of true intimacy learned through making friends and being in a relationship that lasts more than a night. Understandably, today’s parents are worried about the culture where they are raising their children, but Rob encourages parents to focus on loving, caring for, and supporting their children above any concerns that they may have. Just as previous generations of children have adapted to the inventions of new technologies, this Digital Natives generation will do the same, and it will not ruin their lives. They can find more ways to use new technologies like virtual reality for good as they can for evil, and parents can help their children know the difference by being aware and well-informed. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

On this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast, we talk with Nicki Mosley about trauma-sensitive movement practice and the effective impact that this can have on those suffering from long-term trauma. Trauma-sensitive yoga was developed by The Trauma Center in Boston several years ago to give individuals a safe way to access their trauma and work through the sensations felt in the body by rebuilding the neural pathways related to making choices based on feelings. This is an evidence-based technique that does not get caught up in sticking to a certain process, knowing that participants will need different things during the class to find healing. During a trauma-sensitive yoga class, participants will be invited to be as comfortable as possible by choosing the area of the room where they set up their mats as well as by wearing clothing that allows them to move freely and then by having the ability to choose how they will participate in the movement practice based on what feels right to them. Being empowered to make these basic decisions and discover what their body is capable of slowly begins to integrate into their lives outside of class, giving them control that they may feel that they had lost during early childhood trauma or other types of trauma that had made them feel powerless. Nicki advises participants to have a therapist or counselor outside of class with whom they can talk and process their feelings and realizations from class. Nicki encourages those struggling with long-term trauma to investigate if this movement practice would be helpful to them and find a provider in their area. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, we are joined by Dr. Pam Peeke, a physician and scientist specializing in food addiction. Those struggling with food addictions fit into two categories: (1) people who practice disordered eating which eventually takes over all other aspects of their life, or (2) those who are recovering from another addiction and have turned to junk food and beverages as a transfer addiction. Disordered eating and food addictions mainly revolve around the chemical effects of processed foods on the brain’s reward center, which releases dopamine and conveys the feeling of pleasure to the body. When people continue to eat junk food, the reward center of the brain becomes overwhelmed and reduces the number of receptors that can process the dopamine being released, so eventually the feeling of pleasure attained by the release of a certain amount of dopamine doesn’t feel as good as it once did, which makes the person want to consume more junk food in order to reach the desired level of high. The food industry knows that processed but hyper-palatable food acts as a drug to the brain, impairing the frontal cortex which controls decision-making and discipline, so they try to create food that will make consumers feel that “bliss point” and crave even more junk food. Dr. Peeke has worked with registered dieticians to outline a plan in her book “The Hunger Fix” (link below) to empower people to switch out processed food with natural and whole foods and allow the brain to shift back to a healthy balance of active receptors so that people can adjust to feeling a natural high from eating healthy. While the first step of recovery is to eliminate processed foods from home, work, and your shopping list, a crucial second step is to seek help from a registered dietician and/or support and accountability from family and friends to get back into a healthy balance. A key to the recovery process from food addiction is to understand why food has this power over the person, and Dr. Peeke has found that it normally stems from some type of childhood or adolescent trauma, where food was the only life situation that the person could control, so they sought pleasure and safe haven there.  A helpful exercise for someone wondering if they have a tendency toward food addiction is to honestly answer these two questions: If I consume this food/beverage, will I feel out of control? If I consume this food/beverage, will I feel shame, blame, or guilt? If the answer to these questions is “yes”, you should take a step back and evaluate the foods you are eating and seek a change. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Dr. Louise Stanger, a clinician, interventionist, author, and trainer specializing in the grief and loss experienced by the family members of an individual who dies of an opioid overdose. Since nearly all overdoses occur somewhere other than the hospital, there is not much scientific research on the opiate epidemic. We do know that in 2016, 155 people per day died of overdoses, and for every one of those people, at least four family members were affected. In addition to these overdoses, 88,000 people died in alcohol-related incidents in 2016. Families often approach Louise for an intervention for their loved one after they have tried everything else they can think of, and Louise uses the intervention to encourage systemic change in the addict’s life. Addiction is a disease which is treatable, despite the stigma attached to it that claims otherwise. Grief looks different for everyone; it could involve shame, casting/placing blame, embarrassment, relief, isolation, anxiety, and even feeling unworthy to mourn their loss. Family members often feel that they did too much to enable their loved one’s addiction or they did not do enough to encourage them to leave the addiction behind. The most helpful thing you can do to help someone experiencing this loss is to be there for them, to call them, bring them meals, help them run errands, babysit so they can have a few minutes to themselves, and listen to them. The best thing to do if you are experiencing this loss is to know that you are not alone and seek help in whatever form you feel comfortable. After experiencing the sudden death of a loved one, often the first person that family members interact with is the funeral director, coroner, or police officer, so it is imperative that these professionals have some training in dealing with this traumatic grief. Additionally, Louise believes that treatment centers and faith-based organizations must provide programs and support to these families as they cope with their loss. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Our guest on this episode of the Addicted Mind podcast is Colleen Koncilja, a counselor based in the Chicago area who specializes in gambling addictions. Shortly after a casino riverboat became a permanent fixture just blocks away from her practice’s office in Elgin, Illinois, the town recognized that compulsive gambling would become an increasing problem and they gave Colleen’s team funding to assist the population who would suffer from this behavioral addiction. Problematic gambling, also referred to as compulsive or pathologic gambling, can begin when there is a progression in the amount and/or frequency of the gambling, gambling becomes consuming of other aspects of life, the individual does not do it for recreation anymore but to fulfill a need, and the individual has to start lying about where they have been and what they have been doing. Action gamblers become addicted to the euphoria or high that they feel when they are performing well and other people at the casino are recognizing their success, while escape gamblers are seeking to numb or escape anxiety, depression, grief, or loss by disconnecting with the real world. Much like substance use disorder and sex addictions, problematic gambling provides a behavior for the individual to process their emotional traumas or anxieties. Though most insurance companies do not recognize gambling addictions as something that their plans should cover, a significant portion of gambling addicts reach out for professional help at the urging of their family members, the criminal justice system, or out of sheer desperation. During this process, the counselor can help the individual process what benefits they feel that they gain from gambling and determine alternate ways to achieve these goals, such as coping skills, accountability relationships, or other resources available.  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Our guest on this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast is Jonathan Horowitz, founder and director of the San Francisco Stress and Anxiety Center. Jonathan is a clinical psychologist who studied anxiety research in graduate school before transitioning to being a clinician and opening the Stress and Anxiety Center. It is a misconception that anxiety is always a bad thing; in fact, our minds were built to experience healthy anxiety when our bodies sense that they need to be alert to their surroundings. Anxiety starts to become a problem when we cross the line from heeding the warnings of our anxiety and benefiting from it to worrying about our anxiety and taking steps to try to get rid of it. A significant number of Johnathan’s clients are high-functioning, high-achieving individuals who may be having a difficult time coping with the pressures of their careers. These individuals might develop behaviors like procrastination, avoidance, or even developing an addiction of some kind in order to numb the anxiety that they are feeling. Anxiety can also be the result of giving up an addiction because the individual does not know what to do in place of their previous addiction. Jonathan’s advice to those dealing with problematic anxiety is to (1) connect your change in behavior to something that is powerfully meaningful to you, and (2) establish goals and values for your life that involve emotional and cognitive steps or milestones. The goals can be achieved through mindfulness meditation training, breath work, cognitive restructuring, or other practices as directed by a clinician. Above all, it is crucial to know that anxiety, whether it is manifested in panic attacks, phobias, or social anxiety, is treatable, so seek the help you need. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, Curt Widhalm shared with us on his area of expertise, teens, and self-harm. Curt has observed two types of teens who are engaging in self-harm behaviors: (1) those struggling to find the opportunity to express their emotions due to their busy schedules, and (2) those whose friend groups are engaging in self-harm behavior for attention-seeking. In general, self-harm behaviors, which could include cutting, burning, or over-exercise, are quick ways for teens to release their emotions in a very visual way because they are often too busy to adequately learn how to deal with their stress or trauma. They could also act this way because their living environment does not allow them the space to express their emotions or release their negative energy in healthy ways, perhaps due to the demeanors of their parents or complications in their living situation. In Curt’s experience, a main source of stress for teens who engage in self-harm is the feeling that they will never be good enough for their parents, whether their parents are pushy and over-involved or very withdrawn. Signs that parents can watch for in their teens are emotional and physical withdrawal, explaining away repeated injuries, covering up their arms and legs even in very warm weather, intense emotions such as rage or anxiety, and their teen talking about other people who engage in self-harm. If and when parents notice these behaviors, they often have their teen begin seeing a therapist to address these behaviors. A therapist will primarily aim to establish a good connection with the teen by normalizing their behavior and just listening to them as they begin to open up about their emotions, and they will begin to equip the teen with healthy ways to cope with their feelings in an attempt to have the teen abandon their self-harming tendencies. To anyone struggling with self-harming behaviors, Curt encourages you to reach out for help by finding someone you can trust who will listen without judgment as you share your feelings. There are healthy ways to cope with your daily stresses and emotions, and it may be helpful for you to take a step back from a few of your activities to provide yourself with more capacity to cope. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

On this episode of The Addicted Mind podcast, my guest is Kay Simmeth, a Marriage and Family Therapist certified in EMDR. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is a type of bilateral stimulation that activates both sides of the body and both sides of the brain. This dual action process of tapping on the client’s knees back and forth, listening to music or sounds that alternate between headphones, or feeling vibrations in alternating hands, the frontal cortex and the amygdala are both activated, which allows the client to access the portion of the brain where the trauma is stored and then shift those negative beliefs or cognitions to positive beliefs.  Without being able to access both sides of the brain simultaneously, the client will just continue to feel the negative beliefs related to the trauma and not be able to go any further by consciously and logically thinking about the situation. Doing so through the 8-phase process of EMDR allows the client to “melt” the trauma so that they can still access the memory of the trauma, but the intensity of their emotions and reactions about the trauma become less immediate and significant. The trauma simply becomes an “event” in their lives rather than something that impacts everything they experience. Going through EMDR takes the emotional weight out of the memory in the present and frees the client up for a brighter future. Kay uses EMDR with 98% of her patients and she has found that the changes her clients exhibit stick more than with other techniques. Through this type of adaptive information processing model, the length of time or number of sessions that the client needs to go through EMDR depends on the proximity, length, and depth of the trauma in their life, but all clients will see change along the way.  Kay’s advice to those experiencing trauma is to remember that they do not have to go through it alone and that there are plenty of resources for them to seek help.  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Susanne Jessee is with us today to talk about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). TMS is a relatively new treatment, at least in the United States, for individuals who are struggling with depression. Depression is often present in addiction and TMS is something that may help people that are struggling with addiction and treatment-resistant depression. Susanne Jesse is the CEO and founder of Anew Era TMS in Huntington Beach, California. To start, Susanne breaks down what TMS stands for. Transcranial means “beneath the cranium,” and magnetic stimulation means “stimulation using magnets.” The technology behind MRI magnets is used in TMS. But the big difference between TMS and MRI magnets is that the TMS magnetic technology creates a field of energy that is fairly intense that penetrates beneath the cranium into the brain. TMS focuses in on the mood center of the brain that is responsible for the depressive symptoms. That area is stimulated to wake up those neurons again so that they are able to fire efficiently and transmit the neurotransmitters across the synaptic gap more efficiently. If you look at an MRI of a depressed brain, you will see that it just doesn’t light up. The neurons are not firing. After TMS treatment, you can see that it is lit up with all the magnificent colors as it is in people that are not depressed. So that term, depression, comes from the fact that the neurons are depressed. They are not functioning correctly. What is a person that is treatment resistant? Susanne tells us that a large percentage of the population are non-responders to psychiatric medications. These medications are not an exact science so a patient may have to try many different drugs to find one that works for them. Susanne explains that her objective is not to take patients off of their medications. TMS helps those medications to work better because the medicine can’t work if your neurons aren’t firing. TMS stimulates those neurons to fire which makes the medication work more efficiently. In some instances, patients are then able to reduce the number of medications they take or the volume in which they receive them. For patients that have tried psychotherapy, and medications, and they haven’t seen the results that they are looking for, TMS may be very beneficial. Even though TMS has been used in Europe and Asia for more than 20 years, it is now being used in the United States. This use is mainly due to TMS being approved by the FDA for depression, but it can also be used to treat conditions like PTSD, OCD, anxiety, smoking cessation. It has also been used to address issues like dementia and Alzheimers. This cutting-edge technology has so many different opportunities for treatment that weren't available before TMS coming to the United States. TMS is completely noninvasive. Patients can drive themselves in, have a 45-minute treatment, and then drive themselves home. The only possible side effects are sometimes a mild headache. Susanne encourages people to come in for a free consultation and see the equipment. Her team of psychiatrists will do an overall assessment to see if this type of treatment is appropriate for you. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Today our guest is board certified music therapist Amylynn Dimaano. She speaks to us today about music therapy and how music can help us deal with underlining issues in recovery. What is music therapy? Music therapy is the scientific use of music to effect a change of non-musical goals. It is not a music lesson, and Amylynn is not a music teacher. Music therapy isn’t about to learning music. Her goals are to help people through mental health therapy that are struggling with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction, etc. Music therapy includes elements of traditional therapy as well, such as regulation, relaxation, communication, and accountability. In this therapy, she uses music to open up the wisdom of the individual. We need to use our entire brain to process music - jazz, rock-n-roll, classical, show tunes - to "hear" music you need to use both sides of your brain. Whereas in traditional therapy we mainly use the analytical side. When we add music to the mix we are automatically engaging the other side of the brain. Amylynn gives us an analogy: if you've ever broken a bone or been sore on one side of your body, the other side steps in to compensate and help, and adding music therapy is the same type of thing. On one side of our brains, we’re processing emotions and creativity and impulse control. Amylynn adds that these are the things that make someone struggling with addiction fantastic and challenging to work with. At the same time, we want to access the other side of the brain; this side tells us to slow down and think about our decisions. Our emotional wants are on one side of the brain while the other side deals with the more practical thought processes. When we affect both sides of the brain, we can effect change in a more helpful and meaningful fashion. So what does a session with Amylynn look like? As with most therapy, it depends on where that client is at and what their issues are. Amylynn offers individual therapy sessions using the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM), named after Helen Bonny. Helen Bonny was an amazing music therapist and psychotherapist who programmed the music for the LSD trials of the late 60’s at the Maryland Psychiatric Institute. Bonny learned over time that people could have this same out of body, inner-wisdom, unconscious connection experiences without any drugs at all if the music were correctly programmed. With that, she spent the rest of her life creating this method. It involves a lot of classical music and relaxation techniques. Clients are welcomed to lay on a bed in Amylynn’s office, or sit in a chaise lounge, wherever they feel comfortable, and she picks the music program based on what the client is working on, where they are at in their recovery, and what they need. The GIM program is designed, Amylynn jokes, similarly to an LSD trip, where it takes you in slowly and then eventually opens up your mind, takes you to a peak, and then brings you back to a safe place. It can feel almost like dreaming, but she states that you are always in control. Many people feel changed after that. It can give us courage that we had not accessed before. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-addicted-mind-podcast/donations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.