Jason Fox: ‘An emotion is an alarm bell telling us to pay attention, not to act’
How Do You Cope?
Significant Productions
4.9 • 868 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How do you return to normal life after being trained for war?
John is joined by presenter, writer, and former Royal Marine Commando Jason Fox.
Jason opens up about the long-term psychological impact of active service, the pressures military life places on the mind and body, and why PTSD is often more complex than people realise. He reflects on the difficulty of transitioning back into everyday life, the strain it can place on relationships, and the role communication plays in recovery.
Jason also explores masculinity, vulnerability, self-medication, and why learning to sit with emotion rather than react to it, has changed the way he approaches life.
On Thursday in our bonus episode The Gratitude List, Jason shares the things that he is currently grateful for.
You can send in your thoughts and reflections to hello@howdoyoucopepod.com or via howdoyoucopepod.com
Watch and subscribe on YouTube @howdoyoucopepod
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone, it's John here. Just letting you know that I have written a book. It's called Thirst, |
| 0:05.0 | 12 drinks that changed my life, and it's out now. In many episodes of How Do You Cope, |
| 0:09.7 | you'll have heard me talk about my relationship with alcohol, and in writing Thirst, I wanted to |
| 0:13.9 | explore what alcohol means. Why did it mean more to me than other people? Why did it mean some |
| 0:19.3 | things felt better, and why did it mean so many |
| 0:21.5 | things went wrong? I also talk about lots of other things you'll have heard me and my guests |
| 0:26.1 | discuss on how do you cope. Meditation, physical pain, gratitude, trauma and therapy. There's even |
| 0:32.0 | a chapter about my bum and its relationship with Buddhism. So if that piques your interest, |
| 0:36.6 | thirst is out now, and the |
| 0:38.1 | audiobook, read by me, is available wherever you get audiobooks from. |
| 0:57.6 | Hello and welcome to How Do You Coope with me, John Robbins. |
| 1:01.8 | This is the show where I sit down with special guests to talk about the difficult periods in their lives and the coping mechanisms that have helped them along the way. |
| 1:06.2 | Today's guest is the presenter, writer and ex-marine Jason Fox. |
| 1:13.9 | Jason joined the Marines age 16 and spent 20 years in the military as a demolitions and counter-terrorism expert and as part of the special |
| 1:20.2 | boat service, the Navy's answer to the SAS. He led numerous dangerous operations, including |
| 1:26.1 | hostage rescue and counter counterinsurgency, |
| 1:28.7 | and completed a total of five tours of Afghanistan. |
| 1:32.8 | In 2012, he was discharged from the army with PTSD, depression and burnout, |
| 1:37.4 | and has since spoken a lot about mental health and its effects on service people. |
| 1:42.3 | He's written about his experiences in the book's |
| 1:44.8 | Battle Scars, Life Under Fire, and 2025s Embrace the Chaos, 52 tactics to Make Everyday |
| 1:51.7 | Count. We spoke about the unusual pressures active service places on the mind and body, |
... |
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