TAM+ EP68 Beyond Willpower: Busting Dangerous Myths About Addiction Recovery
The Addicted Mind Podcast
Duane Osterlind, LMFT
4.8 • 621 Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2025
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ever felt like recovery is a mountain that's just too steep to climb? You're not alone. In this powerful episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, host Duane Osterlind tackles the most damaging myths that keep people trapped in cycles of addiction and shame.
Drawing inspiration from Johan Hari's profound insight that "the opposite of addiction isn't just sobriety, it's connection," Duane explores how recovery isn't about perfect willpower or never making mistakes – it's about reconnecting with yourself, your values, and others who support your journey.
Whether you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed by shame, or convinced you're "too broken" to heal, this episode offers a compassionate roadmap forward. Duane breaks down six harmful myths that create invisible barriers to recovery and provides practical strategies to move beyond them.
You'll discover why slip-ups aren't total failures but opportunities for growth, why your addiction doesn't define your identity, and why the trust you think you've permanently lost can actually be rebuilt over time. Most importantly, you'll learn that healing isn't linear – it moves in waves, with highs and lows that are all part of the journey.
Through challenging negative thinking patterns, reconnecting with your values, developing healthy coping strategies, and practicing self-compassion, you can rewrite your recovery story. The path isn't about perfection or living up to others' expectations; it's about choosing actions that align with your values each day, even in small steps.
As Duane reminds us, recovery is possible for everyone. Your story is still being written, and it has the potential to unfold in ways you can't yet imagine. This episode includes a downloadable worksheet to help you identify and rewrite the myths holding you back on your journey to healing and connection.
Download: THE BEYOND WILLPOWER WORKSHEET
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Addicted Mind Plus, the podcast where recovery, mental health, and wellness take the front seat. |
| 0:07.3 | I'm Dwayne Austerland, and joining me is my co-host, Eric Osterland, known for his insightful work on the Stuck Brain podcast. |
| 0:14.8 | In each episode, we'll dive into actionable, small steps to help those in recovery journey further along the path to wellness. |
| 0:22.3 | Our conversations are designed to be concise, typically around 15 minutes, though we may |
| 0:27.0 | occasionally delve deeper when the topic demands it. Our goal to provide you with practical |
| 0:32.0 | advice grounded in real experiences and expert insights to empower your recovery journey. So whether you're on a |
| 0:39.3 | break, on a walk, or just taking a moment for yourself, join us as we explore the many facets |
| 0:44.4 | of recovery and mental health, one small step at a time. This is The Addicted Mind Plus, |
| 0:50.3 | where your journey to wellness gets an extra boost, so let's get started. |
| 1:00.5 | Have you ever been told that recovery is all about pure willpower and perfection, |
| 1:07.8 | that if you make one misstep you've failed, or that you'll never heal from the damage you've done? These are pretty common beliefs in the world of addiction recovery. |
| 1:12.4 | But what if I told you? They're not only false, but they're holding you back. |
| 1:18.0 | Welcome to the Addicted Mind Plus. My name is Dwayne Austerlund. I'm your host today. I'm going to be doing a |
| 1:23.2 | solo episode. And we're going to bust some of those most damaging myths about recovery. |
| 1:29.9 | And more importantly, we're going to explore some practical ways to move beyond them to help |
| 1:36.5 | you heal, help you grow, help you reconnect with yourselves and others. |
| 1:42.4 | So as I was preparing for this episode, I was watching the TED Talk, Joanne Harri, the author |
| 1:50.0 | chasing the scream. |
| 1:51.5 | In his TED talk, he talks about sobriety and says the opposite of addiction isn't just sobriety. It's connection. Deep down, addiction stems |
| 2:06.1 | from that disconnection, from ourselves, from others, and the values that give us meaning. I've identified |
| 2:13.1 | six main myths surrounding recovery that deepen that divide. And recovery really is about |
| 2:21.3 | finding connection again piece by piece. But if you're stuck with some of these beliefs, |
... |
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