Tolerance is not just a virtue but a spectrum with a dark side. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, examine where healthy acceptance ends and harmful condoning begins, covering religious intolerance, parenting, couples, and the fine line between endurance and enabling abuse.
Alcohol dependence does something specific to the brain’s stress response, and sudden quitting can be medically dangerous. Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, psychiatrist, explains how cortisol and adrenaline surge during withdrawal, why tolerance builds, and how outpatient medication can safely bring someone down from heavy drinking. The conversation extends to chronic pain and fibromyalgia.
Every addiction is really a mood management strategy. Armand and Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, walk through the core components of addiction, salience, mood modification, tolerance, and withdrawal, using gambling, shopping, cigarettes, alcohol, and internet use to show why substances and screens feel easier than people, and what actually helps someone stop.
