Flourishing After Addiction with Carl Erik Fisher
Addiction psychiatrist and bioethicist Carl Erik Fisher explores addiction and recovery from science to spirituality, from philosophy to politics, and everything in between. He interviews leading experts in areas such as psychology, neurobiology, history, sociology, and more--as well as policy makers, advocates, and people with lived experience.
A core commitment of the show is we need more than medicine to truly understand addiction and recovery. The challenges and mysteries of this field run up against some of the central challenges of human life, like: what makes a life worth living, what are the limits of self control, and how can people and societies change for the better? These are enormous questions, and they need to be approached with humility, but there are also promising ways forward offered by refreshingly unexpected sources.
There are many paths to recovery, and there is tremendous hope for changing the narrative, injecting more nuance into these discussions, and making flourishing in recovery possible for all.
Please check out https://www.carlerikfisher.com to join the newsletter and stay in touch.
Episodes
48 episodes
How a Little Becomes a Lot, with Eric Zimmer
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What Addiction Science Got Wrong About Dopamine, with Dr. David Nutt
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BONUS: Can You Become Addicted to AI? A conversation with neuroscientist Tim Requarth on AI dependency, cognitive shortcuts, and what AI is doing to our brains
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On Stigma, Burnout, and the Fight to Keep Caring, with Dr. Melody Glenn
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Wise Effort, with Dr. Diana Hill
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BONUS EPISODE: a guided meditation for working with cravings, and Jud Brewer on Mindshift Recovery
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Unwinding Self-Addiction, with Dr. Jud Brewer
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What Is It Like to Be an Addict? with Prof. Owen Flanagan
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Fentanyl Nation: Toxic Politics and America’s Failed War on Drugs, with Ryan Hampton
Friend of the pod Ryan Hampton, a national addiction recovery advocate, author, and person in long-term recovery, is right in the middle of a hotly contested state assembly election in Nevada. It is, in fact, he is running in of the most hotly ...
First in the Family, with Jessica Hoppe
Jessica Hoppe's brand-new memoir, First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream, is a tremendous exploration of addiction, intergenerational trauma, and the complex allure of the American Dream. I had the g...
The Zen Way of Recovery, with Laura Burges
Join me on Sunday, September 8th, at 12 PM Eastern Time (9 AM Pacific) for From Recovering to Flourishing: A Foun...
The Supreme Court Blocks the Purdue Pharma Opioid Settlement, with Ryan Hampton
This is a milestone for the Flourishing After Addiction podcast: our first repeat guest! I wanted to have Ryan Hampton back on the pod for a quick hit: to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the controversial bankruptcy settlement invo...
How to help people change, with Dr. Carrie Wilkens
Carrie Wilkens is a psychologist with over 25 years of experience in the practice and dissemination of evidence-based treatments for substance use and post-traumatic stress. She and her team at the Center for Motivation and Change have develope...
Stash, Sedatives and A Life In Hiding, with Laura Cathcart Robbins
One of the great gifts of being out in the world talking about addiction and recovery is I get to meet so many fascinating and talented people working on these issues. This is one of my deepest motivations for writing and speaking about my own ...
Why We Can’t Therapize Our Way Out of Addiction, with Dr. Bruce Alexander
In this episode of Flourishing After Addiction, I had the honor of speaking with Bruce Alexander, a towering figure in the field of addiction theory. As regular Rat Park readers will know, I named this newsletter after Bruce’s
What's Wrong? Personal Histories of Chronic Pain and Bad Medicine, with Erin Williams
As a bonus for this special episode with the artist Erin Williams, author of What’s Wrong? Personal Histories of Chronic Pain and Bad Medicine, I got permission to post some of the illustrations from her new book, What’s Wrong? Persona...
Taking Ownership of Your Recovery Journey, with Dr. Ray Baker
Dr. Ray Baker is a distinguished leader in the field of addiction medicine and a person in long-term recovery from addiction. This episode of Flourishing After Addiction particularly...
Brutalities: Exercise, Extremity, and Love , with Margo Steines
In the latest episode of Flourishing After Addiction, I am thrilled to be exploring the intricate relationships between addiction, recovery, pain, and embodiment with Margo Steines, a writer and person in recovery with a deep understanding of t...
Shame and Self-Stigma: Strategies for Change, with Dr. Jason Luoma
Shame and self-stigma can be powerfully limiting and harmful, and they are especially common among people with addictions. We’ve discussed on prior episodes of the podcast that there may be valuable and wise forms of
Navigating the Complexities of Addiction Treatment and Recovery, with Dr. Brian Hurley
For this episode of Flourishing After Addiction, I wanted a guest who could offer some insights into the journey of seeking help for addiction and recovery. What is going wrong with ...
A Buddhist Approach to Compulsive Eating, Food Addiction, and Emotional Sobriety, with Valerie Mason-John
Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara) is a writer, Buddhist teacher, a person in recovery, and the founder of Eight Step Recovery. In this epis...
How Not to Kill Yourself, with Prof Clancy Martin
Clancy Martin is a philosopher, an author, a recovering alcoholic, and the survivor of more than ten suicide attempts. His new book, How Not to Kill Yourself, is a chronicle of his suicidal mind, and—of particular interest to us here—an investi...
Understanding addiction through contemplative science, with Dr. Jud Brewer
Judson Brewer ("Dr. Jud") is a renowned addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has spent over two decades studying the mechanisms of addiction and the effects of mindfulness on behavior change. On
Brain surgery for addiction, and finding your own path in recovery, with Zachary Siegel
Zach Siegel is one of our most respected and prolific journalists on addiction and drug policy. He is also a thoughtful, introspective soul who thinks deeply about his own history of opioid addiction. In his many writings, he has often referenc...
On Psychological Flexibility and Reclaiming a Life Worth Living, with Dr. Steven Hayes
A little over 40 years ago, Dr. Steven Hayes experienced his first panic attack—when he was a young assistant professor in psychology, no less! In the intervening years, and drawing in part on his own recovery from panic disorder, he developed ...