The Addicted Mind

The podcast I chose to listen to for this assignment is called The Addicted Mind. This particular episode was episode 65 titled "From Wounded to Whole: Nurturing Your Inner Child for Lasting Recovery." The reason I chose this podcast is because I have been in recovery for almost three years and this podcast has helped me gain insight to my own journey and guided me through moments of doubt and uncertainty. The hosts of this podcast are Duane and Eric Osterlind who, in just about all of their episodes, present themselves in a calm and empathetic tone and a moderately slower rate of speech. Their voices are gentle and they pause often giving their listeners chances to reflect on the material. Due to the nature of this podcast, which consists of a lot of topics that may provoke trauma and uncomfortable emotions, I believe a podcast is fitting compared to a video presentation. A podcast may be more inviting and create a safe environment for listeners to maintain focus on listening to and reflecting on the subject with minimal distractions. The intended audience for this podcast may be anyone who is in active recovery from addiction or trauma, mental health professionals looking to gain knowledge and insight from personal experiences on topics related to recovery or people interested in self growth or emotional healing. What I learned about the importance of delivery in audio podcasts is that how the host presents the information is crucial to how the message is perceived. The delivery will vary from one podcast to the next depending on the topic and overall mood. A comedy podcast may be a bit all over the place with a lot of laughter and guests talking over one another. However, a recovery podcast needs to have library-esque undertones and energies in order for the listeners to feel connected. One of Charles Berger's axioms states that, "Shared communication networks reduce uncertainty, while lack of shared networks increase uncertainty." This makes me think of the communication network in the field of recovery and how increasing your network in recovery is what helps people remain active and connected to others. 

Griffin, E., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2019). A first look at communication theory (10th ed.). McGraw         Hill Education. Chapter 9: Uncertainty Reduction Theory