Why We Reach for Alcohol: Trauma and Attachment

 Join Coach Kevin, Coach Eric, and Reframe Coach Maria Thelke for a conversation about healing trauma, building secure attachment, and understanding why we reach for alcohol in the first place. Maria is a trauma-informed relationship and recovery coach who specializes in helping people heal from trauma, build secure relationships, and create lasting change through nervous system regulation and attachment science.

This episode explores what it really means to come back to yourself. The conversation digs into the space between stimulus and response, and how the meanings we assign in that gap can either keep us regulated or send us searching for relief. You'll learn how early experiences shape the way we cope with pain, why our nervous systems can mistake the familiar for the safe, and how "trauma bonds" can drive us back toward what hurts us.
Along the way, the hosts and Maria unpack practical, accessible ideas you can use right away: the power of metacognition and questioning your automatic thoughts, the "language of permission" that quietly gives us license to cross our own boundaries, and the value of spending a week simply observing your patterns before trying to change anything. They also discuss how becoming aware of what repeats in your life — your transitions, routines, and self-talk — can help you rewrite the internal scripts that keep you stuck.

Whether you're just beginning to explore your relationship with alcohol or years into your journey, this episode offers a compassionate look at how awareness, self-connection, and safe support can open the door to real, lasting change.

The Reframeable podcast is brought to you by the Reframe app. Reframe is the #1 app to help you cut back or quit drinking alcohol. It uses neuroscience to reframe your relationship with alcohol and unlock the healthiest, happiest you. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, and share with those that you feel may benefit from it. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover on the podcast, send an email to podcast@reframeapp.com or, if you're on the Reframe app, give it a shake and let us know what you want to hear.