Truth About Addiction and Recovery

Author - Stanton Peele ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Fireside was reviewed on 3-Nov-2008.

Search ISBN:0671755307 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Truth About Addiction and Recovery Reference Book. Classifications : Compulsive Behavior Mental Health Health, Mind & Body Subjects Books General Psychology & Counseling Health, Mind & Body Subjects Books General AAS Psychology & Counseling Health, Mind & Body Subjects . Click the following link to view the cover of Truth About Addiction and Recovery.

Related topics: Compulsive Behavior. Mental Health. Health, Mind & Body. Subjects. Books. General. Health, Mind & Body. Subjects. Books. General AAS.

1) Paperback Book Truth About Addiction and Recovery by Fireside. Save your money, this book can be summed up in 16 words: "I hate AA and NA because they won´t let me continue to drink and use drugs."

A total waste of time to read¤

2) Paperback Book Truth About Addiction and Recovery by Fireside. This guy is stupid and crazy and has no idea what he is talking about. Not one person I have ever met in this field agrees with this idiot or any of his books. Nothing he claims has ever been proven and nobody outside of his book has ever stepped foward to agree with his methods or opinions on addiction. He really needs some sort of treatment himself. Dave.¤

3) Paperback Book Truth About Addiction and Recovery by Fireside. I just finished a nine month stint in alcohol recovery. I entered voluntarily, which I´m glad for, but of course I was in the company of many who had been forced by the legal system into the same treatment. As is pretty much always the case, when you get a DUI or some other form of alcohol- or drug-related charge, the legal system thinks your "best" choice is treatment.

So I´ve been there. And I did the required reading and the required AA meetings. (In fact I´m the secretary of my home AA meeting.) I read "Under the Influence" by Milam and Ketchum. That book of course is reviewed here on Amazon.com, lauded for its brilliance and comprehensiveness, and its followers no doubt enjoy Milam´s pokes at the members of the establishment who reject his Disease Model.

I have been saying "I´m and alcoholic" for ten months now. My wife would tell you unequivocally that, sadly, her husband is an alcoholic, but the good thing is he has a disease, so the prognosis can be good. The odd part of this is that I only drank on weekends. I have never heard of a disease that afflicts its host every Friday and goes into remission the following Sunday.

So "The Truth About Addiction" was like a long needed breath of fresh air. Finally, here was a guy saying the kind of things that I had been feeling for months. Interestingly, in the same manner that alcoholics who find for the first time they have a disease are relieved to realize they aren´t moral degenerates, I was relieved to realize that I was not the only one who thinks Milam is full of crap.

I´m mixed on the effectiveness of the Twelve-Step model. There are definitely benefits. I personally believe that the greatest benefit of AA is "the fellowship." You get a bunch of people together talking about their problems and supporting each other, invariably good things are going to happen.

And, in fact, despite Peele´s assertions that AA doesn´t work, he does make a point to say point blank: If AA works for you, then that´s good, do what you need to do. His point is NOT that people should not adopt the Twelve Step model -- it´s that the Twelve Step model has been shown to be ineffective and we need to consider alternatives.¤

4) Paperback Book Truth About Addiction and Recovery by Fireside. I will be celebrating my first year of sobriety in a few weeks; an achievement that took nearly five years of effort to realize. I really wish that I had come across this book a lot earlier in the process. If I had would it have shortened a long and arduous journey? Did the assumption that A.A. was the only answer prolong a miserable period in my life?

I have read criticisms of A.A. in the past, most long in judgment short in content, that is NOT the case with this book. The author´s purpose is not to attack A.A. but to present the reader with all the available facts concerning addiction and recovery, however the facts do contradict the tenets of A.A. and commonly held beliefs thereof. From the very first chapter of this book you are presented with supportable facts and reasonable conclusions about the nature of addiction. The simple yet profound thesis of this book calls the disease model of addiction into question and more importantly makes the reader aware of why the distinction between disease and behavior is a crucial one.

I scarcely cared if I had a disease or not, I just wanted to quit wrecking my life; I was ready to believe anything.... so I earnestly began the suggested steps (the steps are much like insulin to a diabetes patient I was taught, without them I would surely die) but had only limited success and no spiritual awakening. It became clear to me after several years that I had to get ME sober, no one else or nothing else was going to do it for me, only then did I begin to succeed. What, you may ask, does this have to do with the merits of the disease model? I didn´t know either until I read this book. Through a long process of trial and error I stopped blaming faulty genes or damned fate for my problems, and by necessity trusted, developed, and built confidence in my own intuitions and problem solving skills. In short I was learning to change a self destructive habit, nothing more nothing less. A substance that once eased social anxiety became the remedy of all occasion, and one by one it replaced any natural coping skills that I already had. I am learning them again.

Did A.A. retard my progress? Absolutely not, it was haven to me when I had nowhere else to turn and I remain grateful; but they do a disservice to their members when they stifle curiosity and deny individual accomplishment. I am just delighted to have found a book that reflects and validates my values as they are, and allows me the credit for my own success.
¤

5) Paperback Book Truth About Addiction and Recovery by Fireside. I purchased this title last year (2006), and found it an excellent source of information, and research. I wish it had a more current edition, with more current statistics, as i think it would be an excellent textbook for people taking academic classes in the "addiction/recovery/AOD" certification field. This book, along with Dr. Peele´s other titles should be REQUIRED READING, for anyone entering, and wishing to be certified or licensed as a "AOD Counselor", or other "treatment" specialist.¤

6) Paperback Book Truth About Addiction and Recovery by Fireside. In this revolutionary analysis of addiction, Peele and Brodsky draw on years of research to refute the contention that addictions are biologically based diseases that last a lifetime. Examining addiction within the context of people´s lives, they show that addictive behavior is a way of coping with situational stress--and that it can be overcome without medical treatment or 12-step groups.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 1-Dec-2008, 06717553079780671755300, 980-800-070-4X0-371-981-8

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