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May 2023
58m 54s

Too Much Crisis, Chaos & Stress in Your ...

Dave Asprey
About this episode

Learn about the roots of drama addiction, how it harms the mind and body, and how to recognize signs of it in yourself and others.

If you’re on drama overload or someone close to you plows through your life dragging drama everywhere—it’s sucking the energy out of you. News, world events, and social media can cause a firestorm of drama, too. All of it causes physiological and mental chaos that weakens your resilience to life’s real stressors. In this conversation, you’re going to learn what causes someone to develop a drama addiction, some of the main symptoms of drama addiction, and ways to heal from it and keep it out of your life.

Holistic psychologist and educator Dr. Scott Lyons joins the show to talk about the pain, limiting beliefs, and trauma that show up in you and others who may have drama addiction. He focuses on what drama addiction actually is and how it can affect your mind, body, and life perspective.

Drama has become a global drug, where people are overstimulated and under-connected. Stress, too, plays a surprisingly large role in drama addiction. Other things you’ll learn about drama addiction:

  • What feeds and feels good about it.
  • How trauma influences it.
  • How weaponized empathy poses a danger to your personal life and work life.
  • How to create boundaries with a drama addict.
  • How to thrive if there’s a drama addict in your environment.
  • How to move from drama bonding to more authentic relationships.


Scott’s identified nearly a dozen addicted-to-drama archetypes in his new book, “Addicted to Drama: Healing Dependency on Crisis and Chaos in Yourself and Others.” You may see yourself or others in one or several of them—and that’s good—because then you can move into healing. He outlines a very action-oriented approach with 1) help questions, 2) observation & practice, 3) self-healing statements, and 4) things a therapist might suggest.

Not sure how to recognize drama in yourself or the people in your personal or work life? Start by taking Scott’s drama quiz.

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Find all the links and resources in the show notes

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