Master Stress with Dr. S
Welcome to Master Stress with Dr. S, the podcast that empowers high-achievers to unlock their full potential by mastering stress and achieving burnout-proof success. Hosted by Dr. Safia Debar, a renowned stress expert, medical doctor, speaker and coach. Each episode dives deep into the neuroscience of stress, blending logic and intuition to give you practical tools for thriving in a fast-paced world. Whether you’re navigating the pressures of leadership, striving for peak performance, or yearning for a life of balance and freedom, Dr. Safia Debar will guide you through powerful strategies, expert insights, and personal stories to help you regain control, nurture your well-being, and live authentically. Tune in to discover how to stop stress from holding you back and start living your best, empowered life.
Master Stress with Dr. S
Why Can’t People Just Stop? The Medical Reality of Addiction
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Dr. S continues the podcast’s addiction theme by reframing “why can’t they just stop?” through a medical lens, emphasizing addiction as stress, attachment, and reward dysregulation rather than a simple substance problem. She explains how addictive substances and behaviors alter dopamine-based reinforcement, downregulate receptors, activate stress systems, and weaken impulse control, making addiction compulsive and self-regulating for distress. The episode prioritizes medical stabilization and supervised detox—especially for dangerous withdrawals like alcohol and benzodiazepines—and reviews treatments such as thiamine and benzodiazepines for alcohol withdrawal and methadone/buprenorphine for opioid dependence. She surveys alcohol, drugs, gambling, eating disorders, and high-performing behavioral addictions, then outlines longer-term recovery: therapy, trauma-informed work, communities, nervous system regulation, rebuilding relationships and meaning, and redirecting intensity into constructive pursuits. She advises starting with a GP, seeking urgent care for emergencies, approaching loved ones with compassionate curiosity, and using listed support resources.
00:00 Why Can’t They Stop
03:26 Addiction Is Stress
06:38 Brain Reward Circuitry
12:37 Medical Detox First
15:59 Alcohol Addiction Basics
17:19 Drug Addiction Risks
17:48 Gambling Without Substances
19:17 Eating Disorders Overview
21:33 Hidden Behavioral Addictions
23:59 Healing Underlying Drivers
30:31 Rebuilding Life in Recovery
33:57 Where to Start Getting Help
36:28 Supporting Loved Ones Safely
39:06 Resources and Final Takeaway
Practical resources:
- GP / NHS primary care
- NHS Addiction Services
- Talk to Frank (drug support)
- Alcohol Change UK
- GamCare (gambling addiction)
- Beat Eating Disorders
- Alcoholics Anonymous / Narcotics Anonymous
Connect with Dr Safia Debar
Dr Safia Debar
Speaker / Coach | Medical Doctor | Breathwork Facilitator
One of Tatler's "Top 21 private doctors in Britain" 2020
www.drsafiadebar.com
contact@drsafiadebar.com
IG: @drsafiadebar
Tiktok: drsafiadebar
Find our free resources here: www.drsafiadebar.com/resource