Diseasing of America: How We Allowed Recovery Zealots and the Treatment Industry to Convince Us We Are Out of Control

Diseasing of America is a classic that marked a turning point in the addictions field. Stanton Peele dared to assert that while alcoholism and drug-taking may be addictions, they are not diseases. In this plainspoken and courageous critique of America's approach to addiction, Peele attacks the "addiction as disease" model promoted by Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous, and drug treatment centers. He argues that more practical therapies—behavioral, family oriented, and community based—and normal maturational experiences help people more than AA. Peele documents the scientific fallacies and institutional corruption of the addiction-as-disease movement. In a sweeping historical and social commentary, Peele points the way to positive personal and social change by showing how we can support people in living non-addicted lives. Ultimately, he asserts, the only effective response to addiction is to recreate living communities that nurture constructive human capacities and give people a real stake in life.
Diseasing of America provided (and still provides) the foundation of the current revolt against the disease model of addiction. It opened my eyes when I read it, and it will open yours, too.”
—Marc Lewis, Ph.D., author of The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease; professor of neuroscience, University in Nijmegen

“At a time when addiction is being trumpeted as a ‘brain disease,’ Peele slashes through the hypermedicalized rhetoric to get to the human core of addiction and recovery.”
—Sally Satel, M.D., coauthor of Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience; lecturer, Yale University School of Medicine

“Stanton Peele emerged as a savvy provocateur with the guts to take on the recovery establishment.”
—Pavel Somov, Ph.D., author of Lotus Effect and Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time

“A courageous indictment of the destructive mindset that all deviant behavior is a disease.”
—Ellen Langer, Department of Psychology, Harvard University; author of Mindfulness and Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility

“Peele makes it clear that the disease model of addiction is an emperor without clothes.”
—G. Alan Marlatt, founder of Addictive Behaviors Research Center, University of Washington; co-editor of Relapse Prevention