E278: The Disease Model Doesn’t Let Me Off the Hook

Sober Friends

Matt J

12 Steps, Spirituality, Personal Journals, Mental Health, Sober, Recovery, Health & Fitness, Addiction, Religion & Spirituality, Alcohol Free, Sober Curious, Alcoholics Anonymous, Dry January, Society & Culture, Sobriety

4.3 • 722 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Matt and Steve talk about the disease model of alcoholism—not as an excuse, but as a way to understand why alcohol affected them differently than it does other people. The conversation starts with the idea of “getting better and leaving,” and turns into a deeper look at why staying connected still matters, even after years of sobriety. They discuss personal responsibility, AA, the “built-in forgetter,” and the strange reality of still noticing alcohol in ways...

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Sober Friends podcast.
0:03.6	My name is Matt Jay.
0:04.6	Over there is Steve and you're in the right place.
0:07.1	If you are looking to, I was going to say, get your drinking under control, but that's not why we're here.
0:13.3	We're here because if you have a desire to stop drinking or if you have not been drinking for a while or you're just questioning it, you're in the right place.
0:21.3	Steve, what's up? You had a busy day already today hiking going out to dinner and now you're ready to pass
0:27.1	out very busy tired hanging out we she taped this in the morning on sunday and tonight
0:34.5	because of i was i hiking we're taping it at night.
0:40.2	Totally spaced out until Matt text me.
0:42.1	Luckily, I wasn't dozing.
0:43.1	But here we are.
0:43.8	Ready to go.
0:46.4	We would have figured something out.
0:47.0	We would have.
0:48.6	I had a busy morning, too.
0:54.1	We had soccer on Connecticut shoreline, so it was a ways away.
0:58.0	And if you're listening to this, if you know about it, we didn't get hit by the meteor.
0:59.7	I didn't hear the meteor.
1:00.8	No, me neither.
1:01.8	If you've heard about that.
1:02.9	I wish I did.
1:03.8	Yeah.
	...

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