The Meaning of Addiction: Compulsive Experience and Its Interpretation

by Stanton Peele

Book Overview

This work aims to present a controversial but persuasive analysis of alcohol and drug addiction: not as a biologically or genetically based disease, but rather an adaptation, however poor, to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0669029521
• ISBN13: 9780669029529
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Length: 203 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Meaning of Addiction

Addiction, Stanton Peele argues, while real, is not a biological phenomenon. Reactions to pharmacological experiences, including withdrawal and craving, involve a person's expectations, values, sense of self-worth, and alternative opportunities for gratification. Addictive behavior, like all human behavior, is best understood as an adaptation, however poor, to one's enviroment. The misunderstanding of these truths by scientists and public policy advocates has made it impossible for us to comprehend and deal with addictions of all types. In The Meaning of Addiction, Dr. Peele analyzes studies of drug and ciggarette addiction, alcohol, obesity, and other compulsions - from running to love - and demonstrates how conventional theories fail to make sense of scientific observations. These theories assume that some pharmacological property of a substance, or else some inbred genetic programming, turns a person into an addict and that addiction is irreversible and follows the same course for everyone. Instead, Dr. Peele makes clear that individual, situational, and cultural variations are the rule, although scientific blinders have prevented researchers from comprehending the significance of such variation. The surprising frequency of self-cure in addiction is part of the amazing evidence that addiction is a way of coping which individuals are able to change in line with changing psychological and life circumstances. This comprehensive view of human addiction opens the way for an understanding of compulsive and self-destructive behaviors of all kinds. It also points out the need for a major reevaluation of prevalent, but futile, treatment methods and of harmful public policies, all based on incorrect assumptions about addictive behavior. This book is essential reading for all those concerned with aiding a society increasingly afflicted by addiction. --- from book's dustjacket