How to Improve Your Sobriety: Understanding the Root of Addiction
🎙️ Episode 7 – How to Improve Your Sobriety: Understanding the Root of Addiction
In this episode of The Lion Counseling Podcast, Mark Odland (Certified EMDR Therapist, LMFT) and Zack Carter(Counselor & Coach for Men) go far beyond surface-level recovery strategies to help men understand what’s really driving their addiction.
In this episode of The Lion Counseling Podcast, Mark Odland (Certified EMDR Therapist, LMFT) and Zack Carter(Counselor & Coach for Men) go far beyond surface-level recovery strategies to help men understand what’s really driving their addiction.
If you’ve ever thought, “I just need to stop watching porn, drinking, or gambling—then my life will be fine,” this episode will challenge and encourage you. Because the real issue isn't the behavior. It's the pain underneath it.
🔍 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- Why your addiction isn’t the bullet… it’s the morphine
- The deeper emotional wounds and unmet needs driving addictive behaviors
- How to identify when, why, and where your urges strike using Zack’s “Three W’s” trigger tracker
- How stress, boredom, fear, celebration, and even success can trigger relapse
- The role of environmental cues and classical conditioning in behavior patterns
- The neuroscience behind dopamine, habituation, and escalation of use
- Why your addiction may be tied to emotional beliefs like “I’m loved,” “I’m powerful,” or “I’m accepted”
- How CBT and EMDR therapy work together to rewire both your brain and your story
- Practical ways to adjust your environment and habits for long-term sobriety
- Why relapse isn’t failure—but a signal pointing to where the healing needs to happen
💥 Whether you’re struggling with pornography, alcohol, drugs, gambling, or any compulsive behavior, this episode offers real strategies, clarity, and hope.
About the Show:
The Lion Counseling Podcast helps men escape the cages that hold them back and become the lions they were created to be. Hosted by the team at Lion Counseling, we talk about mental health, masculinity, addiction, trauma, faith, success, and emotional growth—from a grounded, faith-integrated, and truth-centered perspective.
About the Show:
The Lion Counseling Podcast helps men escape the cages that hold them back and become the lions they were created to be. Hosted by the team at Lion Counseling, we talk about mental health, masculinity, addiction, trauma, faith, success, and emotional growth—from a grounded, faith-integrated, and truth-centered perspective.
👉 Looking for real change? Visit www.escapethecagenow.com to book a free consultation for coaching or counseling.
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💬 Comment below: What’s one trigger or false belief you’ve noticed connected to your habits?
Click here to watch a video of this episode.’
💬 Comment below: What’s one trigger or false belief you’ve noticed connected to your habits?
Click here to watch a video of this episode.’
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Creators and Guests
Host
Mark Odland
Founder of Lion Counseling, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified EMDR Therapist
