STICK WITH THE WINNERS! –
Aug. 19, 2025 – Reef Karim is the rare triple threat of scientist, healer, and award-winning entertainer, who is expanding the minds of people all over the world. Dr Reef is a transformational scientist, humanistic psychiatrist, and addiction specialist who served over a decade as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience, published in prestigious medical journals, and owned, operated, and exited a highly successful mental health treatment center.
Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?
A. I am not in recovery. Have published, taught medical students and residents about dual diagnosis and chemical and behavioral addictions, have owned and operated mental health and addiction treatment centers, had academic titles, and worked in community outreach in the media to help educate and de-stigmatize addiction, mental health, and dual diagnosis. I’m a big advocate for the recovery community and continually work to provide insight and myth bust.
Q. Is there anything special in your sobriety toolkit that helps keep you sober?
A. Not in sobriety.
Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice, or a wicked twist of fate?
A. I believe addiction is a spiritual condition with biological, psychological, and social implications. A compensatory response to both trauma and a poor self-concept. Without an existential, spiritual, and transformative shift in meaning, vision, and self-concept, it is very hard to truly transform one’s life. It is very possible to be clean and sober with the right support and treatment, but it’s much more challenging to live an inspired, passionate, and purposeful life without deeper insight and a shift in how one sees themselves and their place in the world as this requires a deeper existential and spiritual shift. To be stuck in cognitive rigidity without the skills, insight, and spark to elicit change, is a very tough place to be.
