 In the Ed Sheeran-Jonathan Ross interview, Ed Sheeran opens up about substance abuse, but is Ed Sheeran a drug addict? In this video, I'm going to answer that question as well as educate you a little bit about how the disease of addiction works. So stay tuned. What's up everybody? It's Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And yes, recently Ed Sheeran went on the Jonathan Ross show and as he was doing this interview he was discussing his life, his tours, and he opened up a little bit about how the stress of stardom led him to abusing alcohol. Ed Sheeran said, you need to, when you get into the industry, adjust to it. And I didn't adjust because I was constantly on tour and all the pitfalls that people read about, I just found myself slipping into all of them, mostly like substance abuse. This is something that I talked about in another video about rock bottom and how we've had celebrities die from overdoses and what we need to realize is that no matter who you are, how successful you are, or that idea that happiness comes from money and success is not true. This is why addiction doesn't discriminate and affects people of every type of class, whether you're poor or whether you're rich, whether nobody knows who you are or whether you're famous. So as a way to cope with all this stress, Ed Sheeran turned to alcohol and he said this, I didn't really notice it was happening. It just started gradually happening and then some people took me to one side and were like, calm yourself down. It's all fun to begin with. It starts off as a party and then you're doing it on your own and it's not. So that was a wake up call and taking a year off. He then goes on to say what he recognized about his drinking problem. I can't work under the influence. I can't write songs under the influence. I can't perform under the influence. So the more I worked, the less that happened. I've worked my whole life to get where I am and you can't lose it over something that you do in your spare time. Bravo, Mr. Sheeran. Bravo for catching this when it was in its early stages. So what I'm going to educate you about is how addiction actually forms. And no, I don't think Ed Sheeran is a drug addict or an alcoholic. In other videos that I will link up in the info card, I have discussed how turning to drugs or alcohol based on a specific trigger turns into a dependency, which turns into an addiction. So what I am here to teach you about is that addiction is actually on a spectrum. Okay, we have people who are abusing substances. We have people who become mentally or physically dependent. And then we have addiction where the entire power of choice is completely lost. So when people look at addicts and don't understand how it happened, just like Ed Sheeran said, it gradually happened over time. And luckily, some people pointed it out to him. Most people don't have that luxury. Most people have friends, family members who just think that this person likes to party. That's what happened to me. I was just known as party guy Chris. So as it continued to progress, it was very hard for people to spot because they're like, okay, Chris likes to party, but he also likes to party when he's by himself. Those of us who are addicts or alcoholics, we talk about how we cross this invisible line. And when we catch it at the beginning of that spectrum, it's a lot easier to stop that problem. You may have seen my other video where I talked about how I was making a submission to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, also known as ASAM. And ASAM has a criteria. And what that does is is that they look at people and they gauge where on the spectrum of addiction they are. And I will do another video diving into that. And if we're looking at that spectrum, Ed Sheeran was in the beginning stages, which means does he need to go to rehab? Probably not. Should he go to 12 step meetings? He probably doesn't need to. Can Ed Sheeran continue drinking and not have it be a problem? Most likely. He has not turned his brain into something that cannot live without drugs or alcohol. That has not happened to him yet. For the rest of us, we cross this line, we get an excess flood of dopamine, which is sometimes a genetic predisposition. And we can no longer safely drink or use drugs. Luckily Ed Sheeran stopped that before that happened. So if I were to see Ed Sheeran in a video or in a picture, having a beer or a cocktail, I wouldn't be all that worried because he was able to stop that addiction cycle in the very early stages. So if you are somebody out there who sees that you're getting into a habit of drinking or using drugs based on stress, based on depression, based on happiness, based on anger, any of those things, that is when it starts to spiral out of control. Because every time you have that emotion, you turn to that substance. So your brain is automatically turning you to that without you even noticing it. When I teach my clients about this at the rehab center I work at, I ask them, I say, how many of you in this room have been using for one to two years? And you have a few hands go up. I say, how many of you between two to five years, some more hands go up? I'm like, okay, how many of you five plus years? And when I'm explaining this spectrum, I say all of you who are in that one to two year range, you have a much easier path towards recovery. And then you immediately see these heads drop down. And what I explained is I am somebody who used for nearly a decade. And here I am with over five years sober. Yes, it is a harder path to go down. But I'm here to let you know that recovery is possible. I don't care if you've been drinking and using for 40 years, or for months, or four years, I don't care, recovery is absolutely possible. And this is what I teach people to give them hope. And if you want to learn more about how the disease of addiction works, how it forms and paths to recovery, make sure you head over to the rewiredsoul.com where I have an entire course on addiction that you can check out. And if you use the coupon code ASAM 50, you will get 50% off. So now for the question of the day, have you or someone you've known been in the early stages of addiction, but they were able to stop? I want to hear about your experience in the comments down below. So if you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up. Let me know if you want me to cover any other news or celebrities and substance abuse, or even mental illness right below this box. If you're new here, don't forget to subscribe because I'm always making videos about addiction, substance abuse, mental illness, and how you can overcome them. Also make sure that you check out over to the left, click or tap on one of the other videos related to this topic, because I have a whole bunch of them. Again, thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.