How to Reduce the Hold of Addiction episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 30, 2026 · 7 MIN

How to Reduce the Hold of Addiction

from The School of Life · host tscol

The triggers for addictive behaviours are always rooted in painful, self-critical emotions. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/0vGhl Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/M0QxW FURTHER READING “Many of us are prey to addictive behaviours which we know run contrary to our deeper interests but which we find ourselves entirely unable to desist from at key moments. Let’s pick three of these: — Bulimia — Porn addiction — Alcoholism We will appreciate, as soon as we come out of the tunnel of addiction, that we have neglected our interests and harmed ourselves. And yet we are at a loss as to what we might do. What, if anything, could help? One kind of answer is this: we should try to notice when the desire to regurgitate food or watch porn or drink strikes us. Though this might sound strange, those in the grip of addictions seldom do notice. They don’t pay much attention to what has immediately happened before their desires strike; it doesn’t occur to them that anything has…” MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLself SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-school-of-life-for-business/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Provincia Studio https://www.youtube.com/c/ProvinciaStudio Title animation produced in collaboration with Vale Productions https://www.valeproductions.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The triggers for addictive behaviours are always rooted in painful, self-critical emotions. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/0vGhl Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/M0QxW FURTHER READING “Many of us are prey to addictive behaviours which we know run contrary to our deeper interests but which we find ourselves entirely unable to desist from at key moments. Let’s pick three of these: — Bulimia — Porn addiction — Alcoholism We will appreciate, as soon as we come out of the tunnel of addiction, that we have neglected our interests and harmed ourselves. And yet we are at a loss as to what we might do. What, if anything, could help? One kind of answer is this: we should try to notice when the desire to regurgitate food or watch porn or drink strikes us. Though this might sound strange, those in the grip of addictions seldom do notice. They don’t pay much attention to what has immediately happened before their desires strike; it doesn’t occur to them that anything has…” MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLself SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-school-of-life-for-business/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Provincia Studio https://www.youtube.com/c/ProvinciaStudio Title animation produced in collaboration with Vale Productions https://www.valeproductions.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NOW PLAYING

How to Reduce the Hold of Addiction

0:00 7:21

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of The School of Life?

This episode is 7 minutes long.

When was this The School of Life episode published?

This episode was published on June 30, 2026.

What is this episode about?

The triggers for addictive behaviours are always rooted in painful, self-critical emotions. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with...

Can I download this The School of Life episode?

Yes, you can download this episode by clicking the download button on the episode player, or subscribe to the podcast in your preferred podcast app for automatic downloads.
URL copied to clipboard!