Emotional Regulation and Addiction: How We Struggle In The Human Experience with Erin Khar

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As always I’ve got your back, I’ve got your front, and I’ve got your undercarriage.

If you haven’t read Erin’s memoir Strung Out, it’s not too late! Erin paints the human picture of addiction and how our assumptions and judgment of addicts are influenced by you guess it, the patriarchy, and not humanity. 

In this episode…

• We are all learning from our mistakes, always. As children and as adults
• Addiction is tied to emotional regulation. The best thing we can do to help future generations avoid addiction is self-efficacy
• Addicts are human beings struggling with the human experience
• Boundaries vs tough love. We all need boundaries with everyone, but that doesn’t mean excommunication…

Erin Khar is an author and advocate known for her writing on addiction, recovery, mental health, parenting, and relationships. Erin knows first-hand the challenges of addiction recovery. At just 13, she began a 15-year struggle with heroin addiction. With 19 years of recovery, she has established herself as a respected voice in the national conversation about the overdose epidemic.

Erin's debut memoir, Strung Out , appeared on most anticipated lists from Apple Books, Goodreads, SELF, The Rumpus, Bitch Media, and others. Of the book, The New York Times writes, "Khar’s buoyant writing doesn’t get mired in her dark subject matter. There is an honesty here that can only come from, to put it in the language of 12-step programs, a 'searching and fearless moral inventory.' This is a story she needed to tell; and the rest of the country needs to listen.”

She writes the popular weekly advice column on Substack, Ask Erin, and her personal essays have appeared in SELF, Marie Claire, Salon, The Times of London Sunday Magazine, HuffPost, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, and others. She lives in New York City. Learn more at www.erinkhar.com and on IG @ErinKhar