Kirsten Johnson Podcast

I saw a comment in a Facebook deprogramming group that asked if that group was a cult. So I thought we'd dive on in and discuss it on the pod today...

Timestamps:

00:00 Is deprogramming a cult intro

02:30 What is a cult?

03:56 What is coercive control?

07:07 What is dogma?

11:00 Cult tactics to look out for

15:47 What is DARVO?

21:27 1 - Can you question it?

26:36 2 - Are you told what to think?

28:00 3 - Are people controlled?

29:01 4 - What does it cost you?

30:33 5 - Can you leave?

31:41 Are deprogram AA groups cults?

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

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⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Carrie is back! Between the two of us, we have 54 years of recovery—and a lot to say about AA old-timers. What even makes someone an old-timer, and why does time sober so often translate into authority?

We talk about the hierarchy around sober time, “AA math,” sponsorship and service, the difference between longevity and expertise, predatory old-timers, and the recovery beliefs we once accepted and passed on ourselves. We also get into what happens when you stop treating sober time as a measure of wisdom, healing, or how much someone else should listen to you.

Carrie's Substack

Timestamps:

00:00 What AA Old Timers Get Wrong Intro

04:24 Good People In AA

07:53 54 Years of Recovery

14:48 Sober As Long As You Drank

16:23 Counting Recovery Time

22:22 Quitting w/o Centering It

25:19 Sponsors Who Shame You

30:16 What is an AA Old Timer?

42:31 AA Gurus and AA Hierarchy

46:50 AA Sober Time vs. Addiction Expertise

56:15 Bill W Says Recovery Requires Religion

56:51 When Old Timers Hit On You

1:01:54 What Half a Century of Recovery Means

1:08:58 Getting an AA Old Timer to Leave AA

1:22:14 Saying "AA is BS" Out Loud

1:33:10 Old Timer One Liners

1:35:49 Sobriety Chips and AA Tattoos

1:46:31 Good AA Old Timers

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

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📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Today I join Victor from Quackaholics Anonymous for a wide-ranging conversation about Alcoholics Anonymous, indoctrination, and what happens when recovery becomes an identity.

We talk about why people are drawn into AA, love bombing and belonging, shame and the “alcoholic” identity, neurodivergence and mental health being mislabeled as alcoholism, the religious and cult dynamics of the program, predatory behavior and accountability, amends, and the difficulty of questioning a system you were taught you needed to survive.

We also explore what it means to deprogram, rebuild trust in your own experience, and speak openly about both the help—and the harm—people can experience in AA.

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

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📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Why are conversations about leaving AA suddenly going viral? People who have left are speaking openly about deprogramming, shunning, fear, loss—and the relief of realizing they’re not alone.

Meanwhile, AA defenders are flooding the comments with personal attacks and “conspiracy theories” about dissenters.

Is a cultural shift happening?

Timestamps:

00:00 Leaving AA Going Viral Intro

00:48 Facebook comment section

02:36 1 - Feeling Validated

13:55 2 - Leaving is Frightening

18:20 3 - Years of Deprogramming

22:20 4 - AA Made Recovery Harder

26:11 5 - Someone in AA Died

30:49 6 - We Are All Powerful

31:57 AA Members Make Deprogramming Viral

35:55 AA Troll Conspiracy Theory # 1

38:10 AA Troll Conspiracy Theory # 2

41:48 AA Troll Conspiracy Theory # 3

43:05 Hyper Agressive AA Trolls

43:55 Does The Algorithm Spark Hostility?

45:48 Dissenting For The Clicks?

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

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📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

What happens when a leading addiction expert acknowledges that AA is a cult, says that’s precisely why it works, and then dismisses criticism of 12-step programs as “bashing”?

In this episode, I examine the dangerous blind spot around AA in the addiction field, how the language of “AA bashing” turns people raising concerns into the aggressors, and why openly discussing risks and harms is essential for harm reduction and informed consent.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro experts dangerous AA blind spot

01:47 Critiquing a cult is "bashing?"

03:10 AA works because it's a cult

07:02 Calling criticism "bashing"

11:05 Anti-harm reduction centering

14:31 Applying the same logic to cults

19:10 Recovery narrative needs updating

Sources:

Why 12-step programs work for addictions | Peter Attia and Anna Lembke

Understanding & Treating Addiction | Dr. Anna Lembke

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

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📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

I read an interesting piece of AA history this week and thought I'd share it with you to see what you think. The book is Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous book by historian Ernest Kurtz.

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

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Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

What if the way we’ve been taught to think about addiction and recovery is actually getting in the way of helping people? In this episode, I sit down with harm reduction pioneer DeeDee Stout to talk about autonomy, moderation, abstinence, AA, treatment, and why meeting people where they are can make the difference.

Timestamps:

00:00 Change your drinking intro

06:21 S*icide in AA

09:09 Unraveling AA beliefs about recovery

16:36 How AA became the default

20:17 Relapse prevention, harm reduction + abstinence

28:22 Addiction treatment w/o abstinence

36:00 AA: mainstream recovery narrative + policy

46:39 D*ath threats from AA members

53:16 Brad Pitt drinking moderately

58:14 Thinking about drinking again

1:00:00 Bill W was her grand sponsor

1:04:24 Getting support w alcohol addiction + moderation

1:14:15 S*xual trauma, addiction + recovery

1:21:39 Informed consent: addiction recovery + AA

1:41:35 A shift in the recovery world

1:51:14 Books to help change your drinking

1:56:00 Working with Dee-Dee Stout

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Today we're unpacking a #CultyComment I got recently. To me, this is the biggest (or one of them!) mindf*cks in AA ideology.

Timestamps:

00:00 Biggest Mindf*ck in AA Ideology intro

03:22 1 - Disagreement is used as proof

06:14 2 - Denial isn't a diagnostic criterion

11:05 3 - Doubt as a symptom is a trap

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

HAMS (Harm Reduction, Abstinence, and Moderation Support) is a peer-led and free-of-charge support and informational group for anyone who wants to change their drinking habits for the better.

Kenneth Anderson founded HAMS in 2006 / 2007. There's free downloadable worksheets on the HAMS website, there's a HAMS Facebook group which is also where they announce their Zoom meetings, and there is a HAMS book "How to Change Your Drinking" that details the HAMS principles and information about alcohol in general.

Timestamps:

00:00 HAMS intro

01:15 What is harm reduction?

03:24 How to drink less

06:43 Harm reduction + moderation difference

10:15 Why Ken started HAMS

17:15 The "choice" theory of addition

27:06 History of addiction treatment, Prohibition + AA

38:33 Substance use harm reduction

41:49 Mainstream addiction narrative misleading

50:06 How to get started with HAMS

57:19 Treatment history + belladonna

1:04:32 Can you cure alcoholism / addiction?

1:16:08 Harm reduction, moderation or abstinence?

1:18:00 Most surprising things since starting HAMS

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Brad Pitt announced today in Esquire magazine that he's drinking again after 7 years sober. This comes after last year when he said on Dax Sheppard's podcast that he went to Alcoholics Anonymous.

So today we're talking about how influential people, here specifically Brad Pitt, indeed to contribute to the public narrative on alcohol addiction recovery.

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.