Just Because You Don’t Stop, Doesn’t Mean You Can’tJust Because You Don’t Stop, Doesn’t Mean You Can’t
Audio/Video – The Freedom Model For Addictions
Mark Sheeran and Michelle Dunbar challenge the disease model of addiction and the idea of powerlessness, arguing that continued use is driven by beliefs and perceived benefits. They share personal experience, historical context and practical ways to rethink substance use without relying on 12‑step recovery or lifelong fragility stories.
36:31•28 May 2026
“Just Because You Don’t Stop Doesn’t Mean You Can’t”: Rethinking Addiction and Powerlessness
Episode Overview
- Feeling unable to stop is framed as a belief learned from culture and recovery lore, rather than evidence of a disease or permanent defect.
- The hosts argue that addiction is a chosen habit based on perceived benefits, and that change happens when those benefits are questioned and downgraded.
- Ideas of powerlessness and compelled use are described as relatively recent cultural constructs that can create a self‑fulfilling sense of being stuck.
- Historical and sociological examples are used to show that heavy substance use once existed without today’s widespread narrative of addiction and loss of control.
- They emphasise that change isn’t about brute willpower or moral strength, but about understanding why you still want the substance and dismantling myths that keep you scared and dependent.
“Just because you don’t stop doesn’t mean you can’t. The thing that’s holding you back is not the drinking. It’s your beliefs about your habit.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol or drugs, even when they’re convinced they “just can’t stop”? This episode of The Freedom Model for Addictions tackles that belief head‑on, with Mark Sheeran and Michelle Dunbar arguing that feeling powerless is learned, not inevitable.
Speaking from their own heavy‑use pasts, they talk about quitting without rehab or 12‑step programmes, and how that experience pushed them to challenge stories like “addiction is a disease” or “once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic”. As Mark puts it, “Just because you don’t stop doesn’t mean you can’t… the thing that’s holding you back is not the drinking.
It’s your beliefs about your habit.” You’ll hear them contrast modern recovery culture with historical and cross‑cultural drinking patterns, pointing out that many societies once drank more alcohol, from younger ages, without the same level of “addiction” problems. They argue that ideas like powerlessness and loss of control are recent cultural inventions that can actually trap people in longer, more painful habits. The conversation stays punchy and informal—expect plain language, the odd swear word, and plenty of myth‑busting.
They stress that they’re not calling anyone weak or immoral, and they push back against the familiar “it’s either willpower or disease” choice. Instead, they focus on how people genuinely come to change: by seeing their substance use as a chosen, valued habit, then carefully unpicking the beliefs that make it feel essential.
For anyone tired of being told they’re broken, dependent on meetings, or one drink away from disaster, this episode offers a blunt alternative: you can learn how you actually changed in the past—or how you could change now—and then drop the fear and fragility stories for good. What if the real turning point is simply understanding your own mind more clearly than the myths that have been sold to you?
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