Paperback. Softcover 1991 Houghton Mifflin. Superclean; no marks or creases; pages bright; binding tight. Only light wear. 321 pages; Index; Notes. Language: English. Documents the scientific fallacies of 'medicalizing' addicts' behavior. 'Alcoholism and drug-taking may be addictions, but they are not diseases, maintains clinical psychologist Peele. In a plainspoken and courageous critique that goes against current medical fashion, the coauthor of Love and Addiction attacks the addiction-as-disease model promoted by Alcoholics Anonymous, drug treatment centers and others. He asserts that such programs blunt a substance abuser's sense of personal responsibility and, in so doing, may actually worsen her or his chances for recovery. He further argues that behavioral, family, aversive and community reinforcement therapies--or no therapy at all--work as well as AA. Peele is appalled by the extension of the disease model of addiction to such activities as overeating, smoking, compulsive sex and gambling. His hard-hitting attack on he addiction treatment industry supplies an effective antidote to what he sees as a breakdown of personal will, social support and a sense of community.'--Publishers Weekly, 1989.