The Rock & Roll Shrink Radio Show Ep. 136 The Damage Done-Gateways to Addiction

In the last few days, I ran across a particular post on social media, about addiction.

It was: “How loss of hope, alienation and lack of community contribute to addiction”, a Facebook post about a TED talk which is connected to the somewhat well-known experiment about mice addicted to heroin, and how socialization saved them.

This post touches on a greater point that we’d like to discuss tonight.

One way, but by no means the only way, is by validating the notion of such things as “gateway drugs,” which is a myth long ago debunked. There is no such thing.

Tonight, we want to talk about the very beginnings of the path of addiction, and how there are things we can choose to do as individuals and as a society, to contribute to breaking that cycle.

Unintentionally, today also happens to be National Sober Day, which was created in 2019 by Real Aligned Women, a self-identified “sisterhood for sobriety,” The initiative is also sponsored by the substance abuse and mental health services administration (SAMHSA). It is to celebrate sobriety and encourage awareness of addiction issues.

Tonight, we will discuss:

1. The Original Referenced Article/Post
2. The Reality of the Roots of Addiction & Avoidant Coping Behaviors
3. Therapy, Counterpoints and Critiques
4. Conclusions, Closing Remarks, & Final Suggestions

We'll start off the evening with some topic-relevant Classic Rock played by Dr. Mathis, followed by Classic Rock trivia in "The Rock & Roll Shrink Recalls," followed by our topic discussion.