Emotional Sobriety: Working With Disappointment & Frustration

With Dr. Allen Berger

Extended Learning Workshop · Recorded session · Roughly 2 hours with reflections and member questions

Disappointment and frustration find all of us. A plan falls through, someone lets us down, life simply refuses to go the way we hoped, and something in us tightens. Most of us were never taught what to do in that moment, so we improvise, often in ways that leave us more stuck than before.

In this workshop, Dr. Allen Berger sits with us for an afternoon on exactly this. Drawing on Bill W.'s writing on emotional sobriety and decades as a psychotherapist, he offers a quiet, freeing idea: we're not broken, we're stuck, and stuck things can move. You'll look at the hidden demand underneath your upsets, learn to tell a request from a demand, and practice meeting a hard day with curiosity instead of blame.

There are gentle reflections to work through at your own pace, and a stretch of member questions where real situations get met in real time. Take it slowly. Come back to the parts that land.

What's inside

  • 01We're Not Sick, We're Stuck
  • 02The Hidden Dependency Beneath Every Upset
  • 03Sitting With Disappointment & Frustration
  • Q&AQuestions & Reflections

If any of this feels familiar… this can be a good place to start.

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Dr. Allen Berger

Allen is a psychologist and author of 12 Essential Insights to Emotional Sobriety, 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery, and 12 Smart Things to Do When the Booze and Drugs Are Gone. He brings decades of clinical wisdom and a deep understanding of emotional sobriety, the often overlooked but essential foundation of lasting recovery

This recording is provided for educational and recovery-supportive purposes. It is intended to complement, not replace, professional mental health care, therapy, treatment, or your existing recovery program. Viewing this workshop does not create a therapeutic or clinical relationship with Recovery Reimagined or the presenter.