{"podcast":{"title":"Rewired Sober","slug":"rewired-sober-7110186","podcast_index_feed_id":7110186,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/rewiredsober/","website_url":"https://rewiredsober.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/d80d3dd9-542a-4703-8bb3-d1a805b0d894/Rewired-Sober-3.jpg","author":"Kate Vitela","episode_count":80,"summary":"Rewired Sober is a sobriety and recovery podcast for women who are tired of surface-level self-help and ready for real change. Hosted by psychiatric nurse, addiction specialist, and recovery coach Kate Vitela, RN, this podcast explores the neuroscience of addiction, emotional sobriety, mindset change, and the messy, honest reality of rebuilding your life after quitting drinking. This is not a preachy recovery podcast full of toxic positivity or shame. It’s real conversations about: women and alcohol gray area drinking anxiety and emotional regulation perfectionism and people pleasing cravings and habit loops neuroplasticity and brain rewiring identity in midlife anger, grief, and healing creativity, fashion, and self-expression in recovery relationships, boundaries, and self-trust learning how to feel your feelings without numbing them Kate combines clinical insight, lived experience, humor, and a feminist lens to help women understand why they drink, not just how to stop. Whether you’re sober curious, newly alcohol-free, or years into recovery and wondering “now what?” — this podcast is designed to help you build a life that actually feels good to live. If you’re looking for a so…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-09T18:18:31.848618+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rewired-sober-7110186"},"episode":{"title":"EP: 63 Deprogramming AA: From Helpful to Dogmatic — And What Happens When You Question the Cult Mentality.","slug":"ep-63-deprogramming-aa-from-helpful-to-dogmatic-and-what-happens-when-you-question-the-cult-mentality","published_at":"2026-03-03T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rewired-sober-7110186/ep-63-deprogramming-aa-from-helpful-to-dogmatic-and-what-happens-when-you-question-the-cult-mentality","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rewired-sober-7110186","url":"https://rewiredsober.captivate.fm","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/10f11966-23ea-4692-bc25-a1adac1df36e.mp3","summary":"What happens when a recovery program that once helped you… stops fitting who you’re becoming? In this episode, Kate sits down with Kirsten — known online as @sobrietybestie and host of the Sobriety Bestie podcast — to explore what it looks like to question Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) after years of participation. Kirsten spent 10 years in AA and has now been out for 5. Together, they discuss the complex reality that AA can be helpful for many people — while also examining how dogma, identity labels, and recovery folklore can become limiting or even harmful over time. This conversation explores topics rarely discussed openly, including: How experiences like trauma, neurodivergence, and mental health challenges are sometimes pathologized as “alcoholism” The psychological impact of labels like “dry drunk,” “defects,” and “restless, irritable, discontent” When recovery culture shifts from supportive to rigid or dogmatic AA folklore versus science-based understanding of behavior and change Myths surrounding Bill Wilson and the founding narratives of AA Why questioning recovery systems can provoke strong reactions — including backlash and hostility The fear many people feel when considering leaving a recovery community Rebuilding self-trust after years of outsourcing authority Whether AA meets criteria associated with high-control groups — and why that question matters What real freedom in recovery can look like outside traditional frameworks Kate also shares her own experience: AA was helpful early in sobriety, but over time began to feel increasingly rigid and disconnected from her evolving understanding of neuroscience, psychology, and emotional health. This is not an anti-recovery episode. It’s a conversation about autonomy, critical thinking, and honoring the complexity o…","meta_description":"What happens when a recovery program that once helped you… stops fitting who you’re becoming? In this episode, Kate sits down with Kirsten — known online…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3631,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/rewired-sober-7110186/episodes/ep-63-deprogramming-aa-from-helpful-to-dogmatic-and-what-happens-when-you-question-the-cult-mentality/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rewired-sober-7110186/ep-63-deprogramming-aa-from-helpful-to-dogmatic-and-what-happens-when-you-question-the-cult-mentality.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}