Christopher Lloyd, Why 50-Somethings Are Drinking More & NatX: "I'm Sorry" to Dopey!Christopher Lloyd, Why 50-Somethings Are Drinking More & NatX: "I'm Sorry" to Dopey!
Recovery in the Middle Ages - Two Middle-Aged Suburban Dads Talk About Recovering From Addiction to Drugs & Alcohol.
Mike and Nat chat through a stressful week, self-sabotage, and midlife recovery while unpacking major news on treatment fraud, celebrity addiction stories, and rising heavy drinking among 50‑somethings. The conversation blends humour with frank discussion of medication, relapse, and the realities of staying sober in suburban middle age.
1:15:30•30 Oct 2026
Self‑Sabotage, Celebrity Relapses & Why 50‑Somethings Are Drinking More
Episode Overview
- Self-sabotage in recovery often starts with the stories people tell themselves about past failures and success.
- Large-scale treatment fraud cases show how vulnerable people can be exploited when profit outruns clinical care.
- Many adults are unaware that effective medications exist for alcohol and opioid use disorders, despite strong evidence.
- Heavy drinking is increasing sharply among 50–64 year olds, a group already at higher risk for alcohol-related illnesses.
- Relapse, as seen in public figures, doesn’t have to erase recovery efforts and can be openly addressed without giving up.
“We write these scripts in our head and we play them over and over and over… things that happened in the past are in the past. They don't write the story for your future.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This episode of Recovery in the Middle Ages finds Mike and Nat juggling real life with recovery, bouncing from family milestones and pumpkin-themed dinners to some heavy-hitting news in the addiction field.
You’ll hear Nat talk candidly about a stressful week and a big mistake editing an episode for the Dopey podcast, using it to open up about self-sabotage, imposter syndrome, and the familiar cycle of success, fear, and collapse that many people in recovery recognise. Mike pushes back gently, suggesting that the stories we tell ourselves aren’t always the most honest ones, and urges more self-compassion and a different way of writing that inner script.
From there, they shift into a "news roundup" of recovery-related stories: a massive $1.6 billion addiction treatment fraud case involving body brokering and alleged kidnapping-level abuse; Matthew Perry’s struggle with addiction despite spending $6 million on treatment; Christopher Lloyd’s memoir revealing decades of cocaine and alcohol use; and Ben Affleck’s public acknowledgement of a slip after posting about recovery and charity work the same day.
They also talk through fresh research showing that most Americans don’t even know medication for alcohol use disorder exists, and that heavy drinking is rising sharply among 50–64 year olds, just as alcohol-related illnesses typically begin to surface. Cannabis use disorder among older adults gets a mention too, along with the everyday realities of middle-aged health checks, colon screening, and trying to stay sober while life throws bills, birthdays and bursitis at you.
The tone swings between humour and hard truth, but the message is steady: progress, not perfection, and a reminder that relapse, shame, and medical headlines all sit inside a bigger, ongoing recovery story. How might you rewrite your own story so it’s kinder and more hopeful?
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