Addiction Medicine Made Easy | Fighting back against addiction

What if helping someone you love through addiction starts with healing yourself? That single shift reframes everything—your boundaries, your tone, your scripts, and the way your home holds stress. Dr. Casey Grover sits down with family coach and author Lisa Katona Smith to unpack Parallel Recovery, a values-driven approach that gives families actionable tools and a steady process for change withou...

Cravings don’t wait for perfect conditions, so we need plans that work in real life. I sit down with coach Jason Lyle to unpack a grounded, nontraditional approach to addiction treatment that starts with the body and rewires the brain: cold water immersion, breath work, meditation, and yoga. This is recovery as nervous system training—practical tools that widen the gap between urge and action and...

Vintage drug ads promised calm mornings, slimmer silhouettes, and instant relief from restless nights. We dig beneath the glossy slogans to unpack how Black Beauties, Quaaludes, Miltown, Barbiturates, and Purple Hearts shaped the path to today’s mediations—and what that history teaches us about safety, dependence, and withdrawal. With clear explanations of GABA, tolerance, and cross‑tapering, we c...

Stress doesn’t wait for a convenient moment, so why should resilience training wait for a crisis? We sit down with Coach Kay, a PhD serving first responders, ER teams, and other high‑stress professionals, to unpack a practical roadmap for emotional resilience you can actually use. We connect the dots between addiction, overwhelm, and the brain’s survival circuitry, then break down simple steps to...

A physician-mom sits across from us and tells the truth: she loved a good, kind man whose alcoholism, fueled by unhealed PTSD, dismantled their family one crisis at a time. From quiet home drinking to ER runs, withdrawal hallucinations, and an ICU ventilator, her story captures the clinical realities of alcohol use disorder and the human cost families carry in silence. She walks through safety pla...

What if the fastest way to help a loved one stop using isn’t pushing harder but stepping out of the “villain” role? We sit down with master addiction counselor and YouTuber Amber Hollingsworth to unpack a practical, compassionate framework that actually moves people from resistance to readiness. Amber explains why policing, nagging, and ultimatums create the perfect distraction from change—and how...

The bell rings, the doors open, and the real work begins: keeping kids safe while the drug market slips into their phones and pockets. We sit down with Principal Leland Hansen to unpack the day-to-day reality of school-based prevention, from vape pens hidden in hoodies to Snapchat dealers who change handles as fast as administrators can warn parents. Leland lays out a candid, practical playbook th...

The most dangerous phrase in senior health might be “I’ve always handled it fine.” We dive into how aging reshapes the risks of alcohol, benzodiazepines, opioids, nicotine, and today’s ultra‑potent cannabis—and why familiar habits can turn hazardous after 65. Drawing on frontline cases and recent research, we unpack the baby boomer lived experience, from “mother’s little helper” to daily cocktail...

Food isn’t just fuel and obesity isn’t just willpower. We sat down with bariatric surgeon Dr. Mark Vierra to unpack what weight-loss surgery really changes, why genetics and hormones can overpower the best intentions, and how a careful program decides who needs a scalpel and who needs a different plan. From GLP‑1 surges and ghrelin drops to PYY’s “brake,” we walk through how surgery reshapes appet...

Your brain is ancient, but your world is not. We unpack how a hunter-gatherer reward system runs into modern dopamine superstimuli—engineered foods, infinite feeds, one-click buys, and potent drugs—and why that mismatch can spiral into addiction. Using clear language and vivid examples, we explain cravings, compulsion, and consequences through the lens of dopamine: how normal rewards help us survi...

A brightly colored box at a smoke shop should not hit like an opioid, yet that’s the business model behind “gas station heroin.” We dive into how tianeptine—a foreign antidepressant with mu‑opioid activity—landed on American countertops as a “dietary supplement,” and why that mirrors a broader playbook: repackage potent psychoactives, exploit loopholes, pivot fast when bans arrive, and let consume...

Have you ever wondered what it's like to practice Addiction Medicine? In this episode I speak about what we do in Addiction Medicine - both generally as well as how we do things in our practice on the Central Coast of California.  I share how our clinic treats substance use with low‑barrier access, kind care, peer support, and long‑acting injectables while partnering with therapists to addres...

Dr. Casey Grover welcomes Dr. Sarah Nasir, an addiction medicine specialist, for an insightful conversation about effectively communicating with patients and addressing common myths in addiction treatment. • Personal journeys into addiction medicine that transformed both doctors' understanding of substance use disorders • The science behind medication-assisted treatment and why it's not...

Mental health conditions and addiction are deeply intertwined, creating complex treatment challenges that require addressing both simultaneously. Dr. Mark Hrymoc, an addiction psychiatrist, shares insights on effectively treating dual diagnosis patients through parallel treatment plans that address both substance use and underlying mental health conditions. • Dual diagnosis (co-occurring disorders...

Dr. Casey Grover shares his personal struggle with food addiction and binge eating while exploring the science behind why certain foods trigger addictive behaviors in the brain. He examines how the food industry deliberately engineers products to maximize pleasure and consumption through carefully calibrated combinations of sugar, fat, and salt. • Food addiction involves an intense dopamine respon...

This episode is the fourth and final episode of a four part series on stigma. This episode is done in collaboration with Central Coast Overdose Prevention (CCODP) and was made possible by California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator funding from the Public Health Institute's Center for Health Leadership and Impact. First responders face unique mental health challenges due to the high-st...

This episode is the third episode of a four part series on stigma. This episode is done in collaboration with Central Coast Overdose Prevention (CCODP) and was made possible by California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator funding from the Public Health Institute's Center for Health Leadership and Impact. In this episode, Wendy Solorio shares her raw, emotional journey as a mother suppor...

This episode is the second episode of a four part series on stigma. This episode is done in collaboration with Central Coast Overdose Prevention (CCODP) and was made possible by California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator funding from the Public Health Institute's Center for Health Leadership and Impact. In this episode, Gabrielle shares her powerful journey from fentanyl addiction to...

This episode is the first episode of a four part series on stigma. This episode is done in collaboration with Central Coast Overdose Prevention (CCODP) and was made possible by California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator funding from the Public Health Institute's Center for Health Leadership and Impact. In this episode, Ana Alamo shares her powerful journey from addiction to recovery,...

Dr. Casey Grover explores the challenging world of benzodiazepines, explaining why these commonly prescribed medications can create more problems than they solve for patients struggling with anxiety and other conditions. • Benzodiazepines work like alcohol in pill form, enhancing the brain's natural "downer" chemical GABA • Long-term use leads to tolerance, dependence, and potential...

This is a joint episode between the Addiction Medicine Made Easy Podcast and the Kratom Sobriety Podcast Check out the Kratom Sobriety Podcast:  https://kratomsobriety.com/ Trauma and addiction are deeply intertwined, with unresolved PTSD often driving substance use as people attempt to manage overwhelming emotions and physical sensations. • Understanding PTSD beyond combat veterans—recognizing bo...

We discuss practical strategies for staying up-to-date with addiction medicine research in this collaborative episode between Addiction Medicine Made Easy and the Addiction Medicine Journal Club podcast. • Featuring a four-person roundtable with Dr. Casey Grover, Dr. John Keenan, Dr. Sonia Del Tredici, and Thomas Bannard • Understanding why evidence-based medicine matters in addiction care • Incor...

Mark MacNichol, a playwright and charity director, shares how his therapeutic approach called Anonymous Drama helps people in recovery and the justice system process trauma and develop emotional wellbeing by viewing their inner thoughts as characters in a play. • Anonymous Drama is not traditional theater but uses dramatic techniques for therapeutic purposes • The program helps participants identi...

Dr. Amy Swift, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and addiction psychiatrist, shares insights on creating healthcare systems that better serve patients with addiction through reduced stigma, trauma-informed approaches, and greater accessibility. She brings a unique perspective as someone who oversees medical care while remaining deeply connected to patients' experiences, emphasizing the need to und...

Addiction medicine specialists Dr. Casey Grover and Dr. Reb Close share essential information about using naloxone (Narcan) to save lives during opioid overdoses. They discuss how naloxone administration differs between hospital settings and community response, emphasizing that having this medication readily available is crucial in today's world of fentanyl-contaminated street drugs. • Naloxo...