Kirsten Johnson Podcast

Welcome to our sobriety birthday party podcast. Today September 29th I'm 16 years sober and Carrie ( here's her Substack ) turned 26 years sober on September 17th, the day we recorded this. You're in for a fun treat as we unpack all the sobriety birthday and sober time things. In this candid convo, Carrie and I unpack the status game around sober time, the shame of “starting over,” why slips don’t...

In today’s Culty Comments episode of the Sobriety Bestie Podcast, we’re breaking down a classic AA defender argument: “You got sober in the wrong country — AA is different elsewhere.” I’ve been to meetings across the U.S., Australia, Bali, India, Nepal, and Europe — and here’s the truth: no matter the culture, no matter the meeting format, it all comes back to the same book and the same controllin...

Charlie Sheen has been one of the most outspoken celebrities about his relationship with Alcoholics Anonymous and sobriety. From his infamous “winning” era in 2011 to creating his own Sober Valley Lodge, to now approaching 8 years sober, Charlie has been refreshingly candid about what worked—and what didn’t—for him. In this video, we react to Charlie Sheen’s recent appearance on the Joe Rogan podc...

Alan Carr flips the script on alcohol. Instead of using willpower to fight cravings, he shows how to remove the desire to drink altogether. 🎉 In this episode, I review Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Drinking Without Willpower and share how the method connected with my own journey—both quitting cigarettes and alcohol. Whether you’re looking for an AA alternative, rethinking your relationship with a...

Bobby C from Anonymous Addiction Podcast spent 35 years inside Alcoholics Anonymous — but he was never fully at peace with the ideology. Trapped by cognitive dissonance, he questioned the slogans, the control structures, and the religious roots even while he kept showing up. In this conversation, Bobby shares how he saw “cults within the cult,” why the chips and steps never sat right, and how he f...

AA loves to say “Your best thinking got you here.” But when I arrived at AA, I was in survival mode with my worst thinking—traumatized, anxious, medicated, and terrified. To call that my “best” is pure doublespeak. In this episode, I break down why this phrase is manipulative, how it positions members to distrust their own thoughts, and how Bill Wilson’s best thinking (propaganda, PR, Oxford Group...

A random AA stranger tried to convince me that I’m powerless—that I can’t even know if I’ll drink tomorrow. He compared my choices to predicting the lottery. 🤦‍♀️ This episode breaks down the logical fallacies and culty ideology behind the powerless narrative AA keeps pushing. Of course I have no clue what YOU should or will do. But I do know I'm not drinking tomorrow. We’re powerful. We can chan...

Welcome back to our Big Book Deconstruction series. In this episode, Kirsten and Carrie ( Carrie’s Substack here ) unpack The Doctor’s Opinion — the chapter that AA uses as its "medical" foundation. We explore how Dr. Silkworth’s unproven ideas about a “fatal progressive disease” became the sales pitch that trapped millions into a lifetime of dependence. 🕒 Timestamps 00:00 – Deconstructing The Do...

In this episode of the Sobriety Bestie Podcast, we’re breaking down the most common forms of abuse and mistreatment in Alcoholics Anonymous—from being told you have a “progressive, fatal disease,” to being convinced you’re powerless, to the gaslighting baked into terms like “dry drunk” or “denial.” These points come from Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey, written 30 years ago but still just as rel...

In this #CultyComments episode, we’re breaking down two of AA’s most common contradictions: 👉 “AA has no leaders.” Really? Sponsors, old-timers, secretaries, and even professional recruiters all lead — they just hide it behind the doublespeak of “trusted servants.” 👉 “You can leave anytime.” On the surface, yes. But the ideology repeats that leaving = relapse, jails, institutions, or death. That...

Emma from Group Thinking Podcast left AA after nearly 13 years—and chose moderation. In this candid conversation, we unpack what made her walk away, how she rebuilt community, why “your disease is getting worse even when you’re sober” never sat right, and what deprogramming looks like in real life. We get into AA culture, Finland AA vs. international AA, sponsorship red flags, nervous system regul...

Any group that tells you you’ll die if you leave? 🚩 Run for the hills. In this episode of the Sobriety Bestie Podcast, I dive into the hidden danger in AA meetings — not just shady individuals or mini–cult leaders, but the ideology itself. 📖 Inspired by Rational Recovery: The New Cure for Substance Addiction by Jack Trimpey, we’ll unpack his concept of Recovery Group Disorder (RGD) — the compuls...

You are powerful. You can decide your future. You don’t need AA, sponsors, or church basements to stay sober. In this episode of the Sobriety Bestie Podcast, I dive into Rational Recovery: The New Cure for Substance Addiction by Jack Trimpey — the revolutionary AA alternative that says: once you decide, that’s it. No “recovery process,” no lifelong meetings. We’ll explore: Why Rational Recovery re...

After 36 years in Alcoholics Anonymous, filmmaker Monica Richardson discovered the truth she never expected: AA has a dark side. In this episode of the Sobriety Bestie Podcast, Monica shares her journey from devoted member to whistleblower, revealing: How violent offenders and predators are court-ordered into meetings The cover-ups and silence that keep people trapped Why she decided to make her d...

RFK Jr. just admitted it: AA is brainwashing — and he wanted it. 🤯 In this episode, we break down his April 2025 speech on the opioid crisis in Nashville and expose how deeply Alcoholics Anonymous ideology is woven into his words. From “your disease is doing pushups” to magical thinking and lifelong indoctrination, this talk is packed with AA propaganda — and it’s being spread from the top of Ame...

AA doesn’t just “help” people. It also harms — and in some cases, kills. This episode is a deep dive into AA: Who It Helps, Who It Harms, Who It Kills, and Why by Dr. Edward Wilson, PhD. We’ll explore the central premise of the book: that AA is either irrelevant or actively harmful for most people who misuse alcohol. You’ll hear clips from the author himself, and then I unpack the book through the...

We’re kicking off a brand-new series deconstructing the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous — exposing the hidden messages, the power-stripping language, and the indoctrination baked into its pages. In this episode, we unpack the Forward to the First Edition — where AA starts shaping how you see yourself, your “disease,” and your ability to choose your own recovery path. We’ll talk about how the lang...

I’ve got a cringe confession from my AA days… one I’ve never shared until now. Since it’s my birthday week (and my book’s birthday too), today I’m revealing an AA secret that I haven't shared yet — and unpacking what that says about mind control, cult personality, and how far I’ve come in deprogramming. I’ll share my AA cringe story and the story behind The Heartgasm Revolution book, and give you...

Leaving Alcoholics Anonymous can feel like walking away from your entire world — relationships, identity, purpose, safety, community, and structure. That’s why so many of us feel stuck in grief, even after we’ve left. In Part 6 of the Grieving AA series, I’m sharing a powerful tool from the Grief Recovery Method — the Completion Letter. This is not about excusing harm or betraying yourself. It’s a...

Acceptance after leaving Alcoholics Anonymous isn’t about forgiving abuse or sugarcoating the harm — it’s about choosing yourself and stepping into freedom. In this episode of the Sobriety Bestie Podcast, I share what “acceptance” really means in the grieving process — without surrendering to AA’s powerlessness narrative. We’ll unpack: Why acceptance is not the same as condoning Breaking free from...

What if you never feel okay again after leaving AA? For many of us, there’s a crash after the anger fades — the loss of community, identity, and structure can feel like a dark night of the soul. It’s not failure — it’s grief. In this episode of the Grieving AA series, we talk about the depression stage, why it happens, and how to navigate the “after-recovery void” between who you were in AA and wh...

Bargaining is a normal stage of grief — but when you’ve left AA, it can keep you stuck. Maybe you’ve told yourself, “It wasn’t that bad,” “I can just take the good and leave the rest,” or “Maybe I was the problem.” In this episode, I break down how AA culture trains us to bargain with harm, avoid the full truth, and even spiritualize abuse. I share real examples from my 10 years in AA, how I recog...

Are you still angry about what happened in AA — or that you were even there? You're not alone. This episode dives into the second stage of grief after leaving Alcoholics Anonymous: anger. I was stalked in AA. I was gaslit, misdiagnosed, manipulated — and told that feeling angry meant I was the problem. If anything like this sounds familiar, this one's for you. Inside this episode: 🔥 Why anger is...

Welcome to the Grieving AA series — a 6-part journey to untangle from Alcoholics Anonymous and reclaim your emotional freedom. In this first episode, we unpack denial. What if the group that “saved your life”… was actually harming your mind? What if the thing you thought was spiritual… was a religious cult in disguise? We’ll explore: 🧠 Cognitive dissonance (AA helped me / AA harmed me) 🧪 How gas...

Mark, a former AA member, professional therapist, and addiction counselor, shares why he left Alcoholics Anonymous after four years and what happened next. We talk about the uncomfortable truths inside the rooms, what it was like to be sober and rebellious, and how AA fed his ego instead of helping him heal. Mark shares what it was like working in a rehab while quietly deprogramming from 12-step i...