The Stanton Peele Addiction Website

Super Bowl and Suicide

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 8 Feb 2010 18:28:29 GMT

The most prominent and successful family lines in American sports are marred by suicide.

Special Super Bowl Post: The Marvels of Football Psychology

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 7 Feb 2010 18:28:29 GMT

Professional football is a marvel of group cooperation and interpersonal communication - so much so, that we can all learn a valuable lesson from studying how they do it.

I Wonder About People Who Attack Bloggers

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 2 Feb 2010 18:28:29 GMT

When you write a blog - or any other public commentary - you invite the unhappy and uncivilized to attack you - they often try to strip you to the bare bones! It is both an occupational hazard and a comment on our times.

On my integrity and peripatetic career

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 28 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

Posted to the Kettil Bruun Society Listserv

The Horror Whose Name Can't Be Spoken - Teen Sex!

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 26 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

Teen sexuality is the last fronter - not in its occurrence (it's all over the place) but in its recognition and acceptance by parents.

Buttheaditis - The Demoralization of the American Male

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 25 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

American advertising is fixated on convincing us that men are imbeciles. How this sells products, I'm not sure, but it definitely is affecting the male image in our culture.

The Unbearable Heaviness of Truth

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 24 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

As deaths in Haiti approach a quarter of a million and misery, violence, sickness, homelessness, and pestilence rule the streets of Port-au-Prince, only CNN doesn't avert its eyes. Americans would rather watch aid concerts, a few happy orphans being brought to the United Sates, and the occasional individuals rescued from the rubble that covers much of the city. But kudos to CNN - we need to confront the reality of the situation "on the ground."

L’Amérique en guerre contre l’addiction

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 23 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

Les États-Unis présentent un ensemble de paradoxes dans (1) leur conception de l’addiction et son étiologie, (2) les tendances dans le traitement de l’addiction, (3) la prévalence probable de l’addiction au siècle prochain. Au moment où la science américaine réduit l’addiction aux impulsions cérébrales résultant de la consommation de drogue, une tendance tout aussi forte consiste pour les Américains à voir les investissements compulsifs de tous types (par exemple, dans les jeux vidéo) comme potentiellement addictifs. Bien que le modèle neurobiologique de l’addiction promette une pharmacothérapie et d’autres traitements médicaux, les pratiques de traitement en plus fortes augmentations (outre l’approche en douze étapes, qui n’est elle-même pas médicale) sont les approches environnementales, cognitives et comportementales. Bien que l’espoir de remèdes médicaux et de vaccinations prédomine, quasiment personne aux États-Unis ne croit que l’addiction sera vaincue, ou même réduite. Conférence prononcée aux 30e Journées nationales de l’ANITEA, « Grandir parmi les addictions ». J’ai discuté les idées de cet article avec Alan Marlatt, Tom Horvath, et Archie Brodsky.

The Unimaginable Future Is Here

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 22 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

Life has changed so much we cannot even recognize how much we are affected - and our children's worlds are changing even more radically and quickly. When we are all hooked up all the time to elctronic devices and media, will we still be the same species?

Haiti and the United States - The Limits of Feel-Good Assistance

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 19 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

After decades of providing $billions in assistance to Haiti, and faced with a fresh catastrophe, the United States has rushed in to help. But the results promise to be no better than past efforts - which have been disastrous for our small neighbor.

Martha Coakley and Modern Witch Hunting - Ritual Child Sexual Abuse

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 18 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

Martha Coakley, who is running for U.S. Senate to replace Ted Kennedy as Senator from Massachusetts, partly made her reputation persecuting ritualistic sex abuse in a day care center.

The Globalization of Psychiatry - Universalizing Our Mental Illness

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 10 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

Cross-cultural applicability research shows that DSM-IV-type emotional disorders are specific to the United States and the West. As we enlighten the world about our "scientific" findings in psychiatry, we are instead creating a contagion of our mental illnesses around the world.

Psychology Is So Simple

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 9 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

After a lot of complicated mumbo jumbo, psychology has found the key to happiness is positive thinking. But we are in danger of losing this truth in an infrared brain image.

How To Make Your Child a Psychological Wreck - The Playground Manual

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 8 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

It's all happening at the playground - kids are being prepared for years of misery, therapy, and medication. Then they can read PT blogs to figure out how they're screwed up!

When the Sheriff Gets Into Town

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 6 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

Loran Archer was co-director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism when the Rand Reports were published in 1976 and 1980. The second, four-year Rand follow-up was particularly hard on disease advocates since it found that – among a highly dependent government-treated population – safe drinking resolutions were as stable as abstinence – more so for some sub-groups!

2010: 7 Steps Out Of Addiction

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 5 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

I have worked in the addiction field for 40 years, since I began researching my book, Love and Addiction (1975), about addictive sex and love. I take a non-disease approach, since I find the idea that you are born to be a lifelong addict unhelpful.

God, Lincoln, and Depression

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 2 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

It is impossible for modern psychology to comprehend how one man - Abraham Lincoln - could be deeply depressed, and at the same time guide the nation through its greatest travail. Lincoln's sense of god is the answer, although his views don't fit those of any religion.

Caesarians and Mindfulness

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 1 Jan 2010 18:28:29 GMT

While use of mindfulness techniques is everywhere touted, the signs are rather that Americans are ever-less capable of being mindful. One concrete measure showing this is the case is the surge in the American Caesarian rate.

The Decade that Changed Our Brain Wiring

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 31 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

The 2000s ushered in changes in how we live, feel, and think that we have not fully come to grips with, but that have changed every fiber of our being.

Top Ten Greatest Films of 2009

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 30 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

It's that time of year again, the time when film critics and aficionados remind you of those great films in the past year - most of which you've missed - thus adding to your sense that you aren't living life fully.

Family as Therapy, Rather than Family Therapy

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 28 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Orphaned as group, the four Welch siblings - Amanda, Liz, Dan, and Diana - endured sometimes gruesome mistreatment by adults to reform their family as a nurturing, therapeutic unit.

What We're Like in 2010

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 27 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Inner America in 2009 is different from any time in history.

Au plus profond d'un verre

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 27 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Certains alcooliques peuvent-ils apprendre à boire modérément? Jusqu'à présent, la réponse donnée à cette question relève probablement plus de la politique que de la science.

Psychotropes, Vol. II, No. 1, hiver 1985, pp. 23-25. Extraits de «Through a glass darkly», Psychology Today, avril 1983.

Hors du piège de l'habitude

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 24 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Pour l'auteur, la façon la plus efficace de rompre avec une toxicomanie est le «do it yourself», en se passant de l'aide d'interventions extérieures. Il présente un programme d'auto-désintoxication en 5 étapes.

"Do It Yourself', says the author, "if you want to kick the habit and don't rely on external helpers." He proposes a five-step program of self-detoxication.

Stanton Peele, ou l'extension du concept de dépendance

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 23 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

L'auteur retrace les modèles au sujet des toxicomanies ayant mené à une conception élargie de la dépendance. Le 19e siècle verra s'élaborer le modèle moral par les mouvements de tempérance et le modèle de maladie, que les écrits de Jellinek cristalliseront en 1960. L'extension du concept de dépendance prendra forme par les travaux de Cahalan et al., de Marlatt et de Szasz tandis que Peele proposera de concevoir le rapport aux psychotropes comme un cas particulier d'un rapport plus global au milieu. The author recounts substance abuse models having lead to an enlarged view of dependency. In the 19th century, the temperancy movement put forth the moral model. The disease model found fill recognition through the works of Jellinek in 1960. The works of Cahalan et al., Marlatt and Szasz shaped the extension of the dependency concept while Peele proposes to conceptualise the addiction experience as a specifie instance of a more global rapport to the environment.

“Up In the Air”: What American Movies Say About Our Sexuality

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 22 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

George Clooney's asexual personality doesn't make for a very sexy film. But Americans like their leading actors that way.

Addiction: Fruit Flies Create AA Group!

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 18 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

News Item: Like humans, fruit flies that get intoxicated on alcohol can become addicted and keep drinking regardless of the consequences. (One addiction news digest headline called the critters "Buzzed Fruit Flies.") Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco indicate this phenomenon will allow us to better understand how alcoholism works, U.S. News and World Report concluded in a stunning article, "Fruit Flies Can Be Alcoholics Too."

Family, Dogs, Love Under Attack!

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 15 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

While they were once considered too sacred to trifle with, family, dogs, and love are now under attack. I hereby announce a campaign to rescue what were once the fundamental pillars girding American society.

Will Sex Addiction Be in DSM-V?

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 13 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

The fight over the new psychiatric manual, DSM-V, has escalated. The conflict is due to an underlying flaw in the manual's conception. Rather than tracing human activity in terms of its impact for people's lives, it instead attempts to list each separate manifestation of abnormal functioning. This is madness. This post is a response to American Psychiatry Is Facing "Civil War" over Its Diagnostic Manual by Christopher Lane, Ph.D.

Climate-Gate E-Mails - Science, and Psychology, as Usual

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 11 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Science and popular opinion both seek unanimty in favor of questioning assumptions and challenging received wisdom. This post is a response to Take This Paradigm and Shove It by Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., P.E.

What If We Had A National Institute Of Addiction?

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 9 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

We don't have one now - we have a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This nomenclature has consequences.

Tiger Woods - Emblem of America

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 8 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Tiger Woods' life has been portrayed as an emblem for the United States - would that we could all be like him. Now that the tiger has turned, we must likewise accept that he represents the soul of the nation.

Shakespeare in Love

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 7 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

One doesn't get the idea from Shakespeare's plays that he thinks of love as an ultimately fulfillable, satisying dream. He seems to see it as more like a frustrating and delusional curse.

What Makes Tiger Tick: Sex Addict or Skilled Gamer?

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 6 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

While people may see Tiger's excessive sexual activity as proving that he is a sex addict, his sexual persona is actually the translation into the bedroom of the skillful, even imaginative, approach he takes towards golf.

"It's a Wonderful Life" – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 4 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Frank Capra seemed to be peering into a crystal ball in 1946 when his film - the Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" - was released. The film depicts the major elements of what we now call cognitive behavioral therapy.

True Love - The Salahis

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 3 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

It takes tremendous trust to deceive the world together - making the Salahis the model American couple.

"My Wife May Be Calling" - Tiger Loses His Lustre

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 2 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Tiger Woods kept a sqeakly clean image against all odds - and all reality. Was it being a man that made him cheat non-stop? Was it being a star athlete? Or was his inherent potential for infidelity revealed by his selection of a big-boobed blonde to marry?

Caffeine Addiction -- As Real As Nicotine Addiction?

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 2 Dec 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Sting has given up coffee, "because I'm addicted to it," he said on the Morning Joe show. Everyone laughed. Mika Brzezinski opened a package of Starbucks and waved it under his nose, then ordered coffee for him, which Sting refused. "How ridiculous," we think. "Coffee, addictive - what will they think of next."

I Just Want to Testify (about my alcoholism)

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 25 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

American health care policies are driven by personal testimony rather than by science. In the case of alcoholism, such testimony is invariably from alcoholics who have recovered through AA. There are many such people. But they are still a tiny minority of those who experience alcohol problems, including those who recover on their own, those who are harmed by AA or 12-step treatment, and others for whom the 12 steps are ineffective or offensive.

Great Artists Can Be Cads, But Can They Not Be?

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 23 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

I posted recently about two exceptional women - Hannah Arendt and Amy Wallace - who slept with gurus - Martin Heidegger and Carlos Castaneda - who despised and mistreated them, and yet the women remained in love until the day their gurus died. But I didn't note another famous case in that post because it has been so well developed and discussed for such a long time that it requires separate treatment. That is the actress Claire Bloom's disastrous marriage to novelist Philip Roth.

United States Changes Its Mind on Addiction - It's Not a Chronic Brain Disease After All

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 20 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) looks at addiction and finds most people overcome alcoholism on their own - most without even quitting drinking! Thus one government agency - the NIAAA - contradicts another (the National Institute on Drug Abuse) by deciding that addiction is not a chronic relapsing brain disease.

Women Should Not Examine Their Breasts For Lumps

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 17 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

According to a government-appointed panel of prestigious medical experts, one that influences insurers and general practitioners, women should not begin getting breast x-rays until they turn 50, and then only every other year rather than annually. Doctors, the group (the United States Preventive Services Task Force) declares, should not instruct women to examine their breasts for lumps.

What is Addiction? Why do we drink?

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 12 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Dr. Peele on Addiction as a Social Problem in America

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 12 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Dr. Peele on Underage Drinking

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 12 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Dr. Peele on AA and world views that encourage addiction

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 12 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Sleeping With Your Guru

stanton@peele.net (Stanton Peele) — 11 Nov 2009 18:28:29 GMT

Brilliant, talented, successful women sacrifice their lives and dignity to male mentors. What are they thinking?