The Meaning of Addiction
An Unconventional View
Published on 14. August 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-7879-4382-0 (ISBN)
Description
A controversial and persuasive analysis of addiction
A tour de force, a spectacular effort of research andunderstanding. This book gives us the courage to bypass diseasenotions to deal with intrapsychic, family system, and social andcultural dynamics in addiction.
?David Cook, Counseling and Psychological Services, University ofWisconsin
This compelling and controversial book challenges the widelyaccepted belief that alcohol and drug addiction have a genetic orbiological basis. The so-called disease theory
suggests that a substance or activity can cause the addict to losecontrol of his behavior. Stanton Peele demonstrates how this notionfails to make sense of scientific observations.
Analyzing studies of drug and cigarette addiction, alcoholism,obesity, and other potential compulsions such as running and sex,Peele reveals the surprising frequency of self-cure as part of theevidence. The author finds that compulsive habits and depAndencyare a way of coping that individuals can reverse as their lifecircumstances change. This brilliantly argued book is sure toprovoke discussion and stimulate new approaches to treatment.
A tour de force, a spectacular effort of research andunderstanding. This book gives us the courage to bypass diseasenotions to deal with intrapsychic, family system, and social andcultural dynamics in addiction.
?David Cook, Counseling and Psychological Services, University ofWisconsin
This compelling and controversial book challenges the widelyaccepted belief that alcohol and drug addiction have a genetic orbiological basis. The so-called disease theory
suggests that a substance or activity can cause the addict to losecontrol of his behavior. Stanton Peele demonstrates how this notionfails to make sense of scientific observations.
Analyzing studies of drug and cigarette addiction, alcoholism,obesity, and other potential compulsions such as running and sex,Peele reveals the surprising frequency of self-cure as part of theevidence. The author finds that compulsive habits and depAndencyare a way of coping that individuals can reverse as their lifecircumstances change. This brilliantly argued book is sure toprovoke discussion and stimulate new approaches to treatment.
Reviews / Votes
"A tour de force, a spectacular effort of research andunderstanding. This book gives us the courage to bypass diseasenotions to deal with intrapsychic, family system, and social andcultural dynamics in addiction." (David Cook, Counseling andPsychological Services, University of Wisconsin)"The Meaning of Addiction presented a new paradigm of addiction.The field has since become more open to the kind of complex,contextual view of addiction and compulsive behavior that itpresents. Nonetheless, it remains the classic source for expressingthis point of view." (Archie Brodsky, Department of Psychiatry,Harvard Medical School)
"Peele's theory of 'addiction as an experience' in The Meaning ofAddiction remains a pathbreaking one that offers readers anaccessible and empowering understanding of their own experiences,desires, and addictions. For understanding addictions, Peele is inmy view (and for my courses on this subject) still the source ofall sources." (Richard J. DeGrandpre, Department of Psychology, St.Michael's College, Burlington, Vermon)
"Stanton Peele's books have been instrumental in helping meunderstand my own underlying causes of addiction and how, howeverwell-intentioned the 12-step model is, it led me to focus on thewrong aspects of addiction." (Marianne Gilliam, author, HowAlcoholics Anonymous Failed Me)
"Offers a thought-provoking, insightful, and controversialperspective on the etiology of addictive behaviors. Peelechallenges the biological model and provides an importantalternative view on addictive behaviors. The Meaning of Addictionshould be required reading for students and professionals alike."(Kim Fromme, Department of Psychology, University of Texas)
"Given the extraordinary, but largely unsubstantiated, confidencethat many in both the public an professional ranks have insimplistic conceptualizations of addictive behavior, it isreassuring that sophisticated and provocative alternatives such asthose proposed by Stanton Peele in The Meaning of Addiction surfacefrom time to time. It offers hope for constructive change byputting reason an choice back into the addiction formula." (Alan R.Lang, Department of Psychology, Florida State University)
"This is a book to be read slowly, to be taken seriously, and to bedebated hotly by every professional in the field. This wholesubject is one of the major medical political and society problemsof our civilization, and we seem unable to find any workablesolution." (John A. Owen, Jr., M.D., Professor of InternalMedicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine)
More details
Edition
1998 Reissued Paper Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
John Wiley & Sons Inc
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
342 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7879-4382-0 (9780787943820)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
STANTON PEELE, a leading figure in the addictions field, has won the Mark Keller award from the Rutgers Center Alcohol Studies and the Lindesmith Award from the Drug Policy Foundation. He is the author of the classic Love and Addiction and The Truth About Addiction and Recovery.
Content
The Concept of Addiction: Opiate Addiction in the United States andthe Western World Divergent Evidence about Narcotic AddictionNonbiological Factors in Addiction The Nature of Addiction.
The American Image of Alcohol: Does Liquor Have the Power toCorrupt and Control?: The Disease of Alcoholism Historical, Social,Ethnic, and Economic Factors in Alcoholism in the United States TheSocial Science Challenge to Disease Theory Controlled-DrinkingTherapy for Alcoholism.
Theories of Addiction: Stanton Peele and Bruce K. Alexander GeneticTheories Exposure Theories: Biological Models Exposure Theories:Conditioning Models Adaptation Theories The Requirements of aSuccessful Theory of Addiction.
Adult, Infant, and Animal Addiction: Bruce K. Alexander, StantonPeele, Patricia F. Hadaway, Stanley J. Morse, Archie Brodsky, andBarry L. Beyerstein.
Addiction to an Experience: Elements of the Addictive ExperienceSusceptibility to Addiction and the Choice of Addictive Object:Social and Cultural Factors Susceptibility to and Choice ofAddiction: Situational Factors Susceptibiltity to and Choice ofAddiction: Individual Factors Susceptibility to and Choice ofAddiction: Developmental Factors The Nature of Addiction: TheAddiction Cycle.
The Impaired Society: The Narcotic Connection--Supply and DemandThe Negative Effects of the Belief in Chemical Dependence Can WeTreat Away the Drug Problem? The Alcoholism and Chemical DependenceIndustry Spreading Diseases The Cure for Addiction.
The American Image of Alcohol: Does Liquor Have the Power toCorrupt and Control?: The Disease of Alcoholism Historical, Social,Ethnic, and Economic Factors in Alcoholism in the United States TheSocial Science Challenge to Disease Theory Controlled-DrinkingTherapy for Alcoholism.
Theories of Addiction: Stanton Peele and Bruce K. Alexander GeneticTheories Exposure Theories: Biological Models Exposure Theories:Conditioning Models Adaptation Theories The Requirements of aSuccessful Theory of Addiction.
Adult, Infant, and Animal Addiction: Bruce K. Alexander, StantonPeele, Patricia F. Hadaway, Stanley J. Morse, Archie Brodsky, andBarry L. Beyerstein.
Addiction to an Experience: Elements of the Addictive ExperienceSusceptibility to Addiction and the Choice of Addictive Object:Social and Cultural Factors Susceptibility to and Choice ofAddiction: Situational Factors Susceptibiltity to and Choice ofAddiction: Individual Factors Susceptibility to and Choice ofAddiction: Developmental Factors The Nature of Addiction: TheAddiction Cycle.
The Impaired Society: The Narcotic Connection--Supply and DemandThe Negative Effects of the Belief in Chemical Dependence Can WeTreat Away the Drug Problem? The Alcoholism and Chemical DependenceIndustry Spreading Diseases The Cure for Addiction.