Addiction in Ultrarunning with Dr. Harlan Austin | KoopCast Episode #188
Episode overview:
Harlan Austin, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with national certifications in sport psychology and addiction psychology. With 20 years of experience working in the sport and clinical psychology field, Harlan has worked with individuals focused on high-performance, return-to performance, and leadership development. Harlan has served in many roles including performance consultant, clinician, program developer, and clinical director. He has lectured and presented at national conventions on the topics of sport and performance psychology, clinical sport psychology, athlete psychological assessment, athlete rehabilitation, and athlete return to sport. Through his career Harlan has had the opportunity to work with professional athletes (NBA, MLB, NFL, Boxing, LAX, Ski, Snowboard), healthcare professionals, US Special Forces groups, and high-level executives.
Episode highlights:
(14:20) Why athletes are higher risk for addiction: no simple answer, appreciating social context, hard work and celebration, examples, adolescence and sport, letdown in sport
(30:00) Changing behavior to aid performance: meet addicts where they have motivation to change, develop incongruence between addiction and performance
(41:20) The process of recovery: removing the substance is step one, finding out what was going on under the surface is step two, parallels to the athlete mentality, transferable skillset
Our conversation:
(0:00) Introduction: a long-awaited episode, introducing Dr. Harlan Austin, appreciating the issue of addiction
(2:38) Setup: the very first KoopCast episode with David Clark
(3:50) Harlan’s background: Premier Sports Psychology, doctoral work, overlaps between athletes and addiction, the founding and growth of Premier
(6:52) Defining addiction: clinical and colloquial differentiation, there is no clinical definition for addiction, chemical and process addictions, addiction is characterized by negatively impacting many facets of life
(9:24) Linking sport and addiction: Koop’s professional experience with addicted athletes, the scope of addiction, 12-15% of the population will have substance use disorder, athletes have a higher rate
(11:59) Building a toolkit: the coaching perspective, responsibility, connecting people to the help they need
(14:20) Why athletes are higher risk for addiction: no simple answer, appreciating social context, hard work and celebration, examples, adolescence and sport, letdown in sport
(19:05) Athletes who are all-in: behavioral attitudes towards sport and substance use, neurochemical rewards for exercise, chasing the runner’s high, exercise addiction
(21:42) Personal story: Jim Huffman, disappearance and heroin addiction, addicts are good at hiding addictions
(24:48) Signs and symptoms: CAGE screener, do you feel the need to cut down on use, have you been annoyed by criticism of use, have you felt guilty about use, eye-opener usage
(27:39) First steps: bio-psycho-social health, honest assessment, avoiding accusation, reflecting on aspects of health, examples
(30:00) Changing behavior to aid performance: meet addicts where they have motivation to change, develop incongruence between addiction and performance
(31:23) Speaking with professionals: joining with the athlete, avoiding implications of shame, recommendation versus requirement, countering shame with support
(33:59) Rock bottom: the cliche, you choose when to get off the elevator, there is no universal rock bottom, knowing when to intervene
(36:11) Being a bystander: you cannot control the behavior of others, you can offer help but addiction is a personal journey, challenges with feeling helpless
(37:32) Trading addictions: shifting addictions can be problematic, trading up the scale can be positive, examples, developing goal-driven intentional behavior, being open to feedback
(41:20) The process of recovery: removing the substance is step one, finding out what was going on under the surface is step two, parallels to the athlete mentality, transferable skillset
(43:08) Athletes and recovery: athletes typically have good support and physical health, the double-edged sword of transferrable intensity
(45:05) The hopelessness stigma: most people recover from addiction, it takes time and effort but it is possible, being prepared to keep trying, never giving up, stigma around relapse
(48:08) Athletic identity: addiction is often a coping mechanism for threats to athletic identity, using your athletic identity to overcome addiction
(50:51) Olympic example: transitioning from Olympic to post-Olympic lives, challenges with lack of choice
(51:44) Resources for athletes: recoveryanswers.org has great accessible information, samhsa.gov can help you find vetted resources, addicttoathlete.com is a great source for inspiration and community, nobody goes through the journey alone
(55:44) Wrap-up: where to learn more, premiersportpsychology.com
(56:42) Outro: giving thanks, recognizing and remembering David Clark
Additional resources:
Resources covered-
CAGE Substance Abuse Screening Tool
https://www.recoveryanswers.org/
https://www.addicttoathlete.com/
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