Dear Stanton, I’m reaching out to you about you and what your work means. Your work on addiction and recovery has popped up on my radar more times than I can count, sparking a mix of intrigue and skepticism. How do you see your theories and approaches fitting into the broader landscape of addiction treatment today? Moreover, what misconceptions about your work would you like to clarify? Intrigued, A Skeptical Thinker NOTE: This FAQ has been generated with AI assistance. The response from Dr Peele is entirely his own work. Dear Skeptical Thinker, You’re my favorite audience! I HAVE been around ..read more

When people go to rehab, the concept is that they can devote themselves to wellness and recovery.  But does that logic really work?  Or are they isolating themselves from the challenges they need to face in living addiction free?  Moreover, are they detaching themselves from the strengths – the skills, people, and satisfactions – that give their lives meaning and support change?   The Challenge of Maintaining Work-Life Balance to Achieve Recovery People find their ordinary lives to be anywhere from challenging to overwhelming.  We don’t have to remind you of the stress ..read more

Dear Stanton, My husband is an alcoholic that went through the treatment stages and he is now living in a sober house. He is working.  We have been apart as a result of his treatment.  He has been at this sober house for 3 months and we have maybe seen each other 3 or 4 times.  He is busy working, helping the guys at the house, going to AA meetings and meeting with his sponsors, visiting with his elderly mom. We have been married for 24 years and I go to Al-Anon. However I have been so left out of my husband’s recovery. Is this normal? I feel like I’m in limbo waiting.  Bec ..read more

The healing power of words is profound. That’s why writing in a journal is a powerful self-help tool. Journaling is the process of writing down your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Doing so can help you reflect on the goings on in your life and to generate ideas about what to do next. Keeping a journal can also play a vital role in helping individuals move beyond addiction and navigate the journey towards a balanced life. This guide explores the benefits of journaling in the pursuit of overcoming addiction; it provides journal prompts to get you started; and it offers tips on how to make ..read more

Recovering from addiction in the nondisease approach requires accepting personal responsibility and agency. If this is true, and we accept that nobody else or any external force is the cause of our addiction, where does that leave family and intimate relationships? People are social animals. We all seek and welcome support, love, companionship — yes, sex. And people’s addictions are built into that socialness. Expectations and acceptance  When we deal with people for a while, we build up expectations. We count on them to behave in certain ways. These expectations are often positive — we e ..read more

AA has been around a long time (since 1935 — the first edition of the Big Book was produced in 1939). It and its 12 steps have been the dominant approach to alcoholism and addiction  in America for at least 50 years — and really longer. (The film “The Days of Wine and Roses,” an AA primer, was made in 1962 — it’s on Broadway again currently.) So why haven’t alcoholism and addiction rates improved? Why are more Americans than ever dying from drugs (up to 110,000 in 2022) and more women than ever dying due to alcohol? Of course, one answer is to get more people to participate in AA. But hav ..read more

Dr. Peele, As someone struggling with food addiction, I have been exploring various treatment options to help me regain control over my eating habits. While doing so, I stumbled upon your website and have been pouring through all the articles and readers comments. I have a question, and having read through your previous writings I can guess what you might say, but I’ll ask it anyway – Is there a pill for food addiction? I understand that overcoming addiction often requires a multifaceted approach, encompassing behavioral and psychological strategies, as well as support from loved ones. However ..read more

What Addiction and Recovery Are Addiction isn’t an outside force coming in to “capture” your life, like an infection. You can’t get a medication to “conquer” or to defeat it. Addiction arises due to an imbalance in your life. It is often the result of the absence of positive, fulfilling attachments. The response to an addiction in this case requires a reorientation of your life. Having said this, we don’t mean that you have to create a whole new existence to defeat your addictive tendencies. You already have the basic elements for this reorientation: you have positive values, you have skills ..read more

Dr. Stanton Peele, founder, Life Process Program How the recovery movement goes, so goes America The idea that addiction is a disease to be recovered from is a recent invention, unique in the history of human thinking.  The traces of  mental illness and substance addiction first appeared when human civilization became organized around agriculture — perhaps 12,000 years ago. Even then, these were not separate areas of human concern but a part of the larger social structure and functioning. Since then, both have grown as central preoccupations of civilization. They – and recovery from ..read more

Dr. Stanton Peele, founder, Life Process Program Breaking the Cycle of Pornography Addiction In an alarming Free Press article, “I Had a Helicopter Mom. I Found Pornhub Anyway,” Isabel Hogben, a 16-year-old girl wrote of discovering porn at age 10 on a website. It exposed her to “simulated incest, bestiality, extreme bondage, sex with unconscious women, gangbangs, sadomasochism and unthinkable physical violence.” Isabel has never herself engaged in those things. Or known anyone who has. In fact, she’s never had sex with another person. That’s not the worrisome thing. This is: Today I’m 16, a ..read more