Click on the word to see specific questions about a specific topic, or see all questions to Stanton Peele. Click on the link to see the full question and Stanton's response.

12-Step Questions

• I know AA/NA work – I’ve been in 14 treatment centers in my life and all of them use the disease 12 step model
• 22-year-old struggling with leaving AA
• Can I argue against AA in my philosophy debate?
• Will you let me pray to my higher power for you?
• Where do I go for help now that I am out of AA?
• I grew out of AA
• Is my son an alcoholic?
• Did my mamma cast a 12-step hex on me?
• What do you make of the Stanford group's claim that continuing in 12-step aftercare helps people recover?
• Can you help me escape from the 12-step world, in which I grew up?
• How should I deal with a clinging man I met at a 12-step group?
• What if you think God is a bastard, and the higher power doesn't work for you?
• Forced into AA for using marijuana medically: What do I do?
• Does AA cause suicides?
• Are there any resources for people 'recovering from AA'?
• I quit AA because of you and I'm drowning — what now?
• My "had a drink and I was okay" sharing was not met with a enthusiasm by my fellow A.A. friends.
• Tell me how Janet Woititz found that children of alcoholics who avoid 12-step groups do better
• Should I go along with a treatment philosophy I dispute after I have relapsed?
• What is "recovery"?
• Religious objectors to AA need not apply
• What if my wife and I disagree about the disease theory of addiction?
• I've gone beyond AA to ADD; can you help?
• I am not an alcoholic!
• May I question AA members?
• Does recovery from alcoholism mean giving up sex?
• Please write if you left AA
• AA's role in society — more negative than positive?
• What do 12 steppers do to people who object to their coercing people into treatment?
• What have you ever done, except to rain on the AA miracle?

Addiction

• Is marijuana addictive?
• What kinds of people do you think are at high risk for addiction?
• How come the scientific explanations of addiction I receive in drug court and treatment make no sense to me?
• Is Valium a real addiction?
• Stanton, does the latest discovery about the effects of cocaine disprove your theory?
• What is addiction?
• They put people in addiction treatment without withdrawal symptoms!
• Are doctors overeager to give chronically ill patients pain medication?
• Do endorphins (or their depletion) cause addiction?
• Are psychedelics good for you and is marijuana addictive?
• Drug, set or setting - which has the greatest impact upon drug use problems?
• Why aren't I and my friends addicted to cigarettes?
• Tell me about women and addiction
• Brain research shows cult suicides foreordained!
• Why do you use "Addiction" in the title of your web site?
• Is there an alcoholic/addict personality type?
• Are antidepressants addictive?
• Want to Read a Really Sick Suggestion for Teen Drinking?

Alternate Treatments

• How do I work with a wilderness program graduate?
• How can I talk AAese?
• Is RR more of the same as AA?
• Are motivational therapy techniques only useful for people who haven't yet decided to change?
• Does naltrexone work?
• Using brief interventions in a community setting for heavy-drinking women of child-bearing age
• What do you think of SMART Recovery?
• What do you think of Addictive Voice Recognition Technique by Jack Trimpey at Rational Recovery?
• What exactly is the community reinforcement approach (CRA) and how effective is it?
• Is salvation a cure for addiction? A brief program on relapse prevention.
• What do you think of naltrexone therapy for alcoholics?
• What do you think of methadone treatment, and is it good for me?
• Non-AA help in the U.S. and overseas

Beneficial Drinking and Alcohol Policy

• What is your stand on addiction and pleasure?
• Does alcohol damage your brains?
• Are there any positive effects of drinking alcohol?
• I turned 21; should I drink?
• Want to read a really sick suggestion for teen drinking?
• What is the optimal level of drinking for living longer?
• Would legalization of alcoholic drinks to minors decrease or increase underage drinking?

Drug Policy

• Should people be allowed to be marijuana addicts?
• Is Rush Limbaugh's addiction different from other addicts?
• Stanton, are you causing heroin overdoses?
• What about gambling?
• Are doctors overeager to give chronically ill patients pain medication?
• Should drug abuse be illegal?
• Should physicians prescribe narcotic substitutes?
• Can my son's marijuana use be therapeutic?
• Tell me about needle-exchange programs and drop-in centres
• How do I get the police to cooperate in drug reform efforts?
• What do you think of Szasz's idea of a free drug market?
• Was prohibition of alcohol good for us?
• What do you think of drug legalization?
• How far can drug testing go?

Family Members

• My son stole a laptop. Should I expose him?
• How do you help an addict hundreds of miles away?
• How do I overcome the pain of my childhood?
• The wondering spouse asks: How do I fight my husband’s treatment with him?
• How do I rescue my marriage when my husband deserts me and the family for AA?
• Should I turn my father over to his military superiors?
• What do I do when I find an adoptive baby has special problems possibly related to her mother’s drug use?
• How can I stop myself from reacting and find some ways of responding more constructively?
• Does my daughter have a drug problem?
• How do I avoid a restraining order; how do I avoid needing one?
• Can I compromise with an MJ smoker I love?
• Why did my wife have an affair with a man with a small penis?
• Why does my friend waste time in AA instead of me?
• What if my boyfriend wanks off to Internet porno when I'm away?
• Dear Sherlock: How much does my boyfriend drink?
• My son and his counselors think they are doing fine, only I'm going broke; how do I stand up for myself?
• What is "harm reduction" and can it help my brother-in-law?
• What should I do with my husband?
• How do I let parents know that all drug use does not require hospitalization?
• Night ramblings of a woman in AA: Can AA men trap you?
• Should I leave my husband?
• My mother is suicidal: Will I be too?
• After decades of passivity, how do I escape my husband's alcoholism?
• How do you deal with a father's alcohol-inspired abusive behavior during the holidays?
• Mom's codependent, and I don't know what to do
• My daughter is out of drug treatment; is she depressed and should I send her to a psychiatrist?
• Who is the patient?
• Am I an enabler because I helped my hubby take his prescribed medication?
• Will my little sister become addicted to ecstasy?
• Should I get even with the drug dealer who killed my brother?
• My sister is a desperate alcoholic in a medical family; help!
• What can I do about a religious stepdaughter who drinks in a dry state?
• How do I help a friend in a hospital for drug treatment and a suicide attempt?
• How do I get my boyfriend to quit drugs/drinking?
• How to 'interview' a relative about drug use
• Mother asks for help for her daughter
• My husband is continuously losing jobs and has no desire to do anything but sit and drink
• What do I do: I've just discovered my boyfriend abuses drugs and alcohol?
• My mother had a cancer operation and she's drinking
• How do I convince my ex-wife my drinking is no longer a problem?
• My husband died of an overdose. Was there foul play?
• Should I turn my son in to the police?
• How should I deal with my husband after he returns from a hospital alcoholism program?
• I am worried about my son's court ordered treatment. What can I demand from my son's treatment providers?
• I was surprised that my inmate husband is a pot smoker!

Forensic or Legal Questions

• I was concerned about my alcohol consumption, and now I am forced into treatment. What should I do?
• What is the correct punishment for two DWIs in five years?
• Extradited for refusing drug treatment
• Can you develop an alternative program when a court orders you into AA?
• You’ll be punished for being treated, but only if you get better
• Who is responsible for heroin overdoses?
• Another reason to stay away from AA: Can a counselor use her personal knowledge that I have attended AA against me in a court proceeding?
• Can a court sentence you to anabuse?
• What about the new New York state court mandate to treat all addicts rather than imprison them?
• Is AA protected like a religious confessional?
• Who says books don't help people?
• Why isn't Audrey responsible for her behavior?
• What is your attitude towards Audrey Kishline's "accident"?
• The catch-22 of employment law: Whether to tell about a substance abuse problem
• Help me get my nursing license back
• How do I work with the legal system to lick my wife's crack addiction?
• What do I do when I am forced to attend AA for my job?

Harm Reduction

• Can I ever get off methadone?
• Is harm reduction therapy too risky for a therapist to try?
• What do you think of my individualized harm reduction treatment?
• Can I ever get off methadone?
• Can I get wasted once in a while?
• My wife won't stop drinking within an inch of her life — is there anything else we can do?
• Do you know of any harm reduction programs in place for cocaine?
• Why can't people just stop using drugs, and should addicts be maintained on drugs?
• Tell me how to get off of methadone.

How To Think About Solving an Addiction

• How can I overcome withdrawal when I quit drinking?
• My alcoholic counselors says I'm an addict - am I?
• How can people be responsible for drinking until they end up in a dumpster?
• Is a hyper person more likely to relapse?
• Why do my narcotic addiction proclivity/withdrawal symptoms vary over my lifetime?
• Nicorette - boon or bane?
• How can I combat my withdrawal from meth?
• Police lectures to students
• Olli Niemi's existential analysis of addiction
• How do you help a talented and attractive addict?
• What do you think of interventions?
• What's the most important factor in overcoming alcoholism?
• Tell me if I have a drinking problem in five minutes or less
• How to address an existential problem
• How to analyze a drinking problem
• How not to solve an addiction

Inheriting Alcoholism/Addiction

• What impact will my stepfather's alcoholism have on me?
• What about the latest P3 brain wave and other hypotheses about the inheritance of alcoholism?
• Do alcoholics have overprotective moms?
• Is there a statute of limitations on inherited influences from alcoholics?
• As a child of an alcoholic, will I become one?
• What personality traits do children of alcoholics inherit?
• What do you think about these Swedish genetic findings?

Nonsubstance Addiction

• Wife of a pathological gambler seeks to eliminate gambling
• Can I create an intervention to force my parents to address my sister’s shopping addiction?
• Is there such a thing as workaholism?
• Can a person be addicted to get-rich-quick schemes, and how can I stop my father from ruining himself and my mother?
• Help me with my husband's addiction to sports on TV
• Is TV addictive and can the addiction be treated?

Personal Questions

• Can I overcome the problems my mother has caused me?
• Am I a marijuana addict?
• How do I make a secure place for myself in life?
• Can I use marijuana and cocaine as antidepressants?
• I am social activist for whom both AA and Jack Trimpey have failed; what can I do?
• As a child of an alcoholic, will I become one?
• How do I erase my alcohol dependence diagnosis?
• What if I can't escape the pull of a 12 step program?
• Against drug laws but worried I am addicted to marijuana
• I take drugs therapeutically for depression but am worried about this
• Please help me quit crack addiction!
• Reflection: Why drink or use drugs at all?

Resuming Social Drinking and Drug Use

• How do you define relapse?
• What good is a doctor who treats only people who quit drinking?
• Does God or self cause remission?
• Is taking cocaine every every now then less dangerous than using it on a daily basis?
• Should an AA member who feels capable resume moderate drinking?
• Why shouldn't you be held responsible for the two people Audrey killed?
• Will I become like Audrey Kishline if I try controlled drinking?
• Is my moderate drinking okay or was AA right?
• Can I go back to AA after being a controlled user who relapses?
• I don't want my husband to use drugs, even if he can resume drinking
• Can I abstain while still believing in your work?
• Are there costs to abstinence and how do you deal with them?
• I inherited my alcoholism — can I drink socially?
• I matured into moderate drinking 20 years after leaving AA; is this possible?
• I question the concept of limited use for an addict
• How can I recapture social drinking?
• If I feel I should abstain currently, can I ever resume drinking?
• My "had a drink and I was okay sharing" was not met with a enthusiasm by my fellow A.A. friends
• Overcoming disease treatment for addiction: A first person account

Sex and Relationships

• Save me from the addict I’m with
• What should I do?
• I cheated on my alcoholic husband, now he can't stop thinking about it
• I gave up everything for my boyfriend and now that he's left, I'm desolate
• I’m falling for a sexy alcoholic – should I stop myself?
• Should I live with a marijuana addict who is otherwise a good man?
• I am aroused by my past sexual abuse; is that a problem?
• Can you help me be the object of a drunk-girl fetishist’s affections?
• Visualize: What would your life be like with this man?
• Is dating someone codependent to alcoholics – when you are not an alcoholic – a sign of codependence itself?
• How can I salvage my dating relationship?
• My wife accepts my pornography addiction; but how is this related to my sobriety?
• What does sex addiction tell us about addiction in general?
• Are you criticizing me for constantly hooking up with addicts?
• Can't you spot a drug user because their brains are fried like they show on TV?
• Living with the enemy: I shouldn't mind living with a drug abuser, should I?
• I was surprised that my inmate husband is a pot smoker!
• Should I date a woman in AA?
• Why won't people date me as a recovering alcoholic?
• When masturbation hurts in a relationship
• My love addiction is worse than my IV coke habit — what should I do?
• Mom's codependent, and I don't know what to do
• Should I stick with the problem drinker I'm dating?
• Is my masturbation ruining my marriage, even though we have an excellent sex life?
• When I went to college, I became involved in addicted sex
• Is my relationship with my gay lover abusive?
• What does it mean to be codependent with a drug addict?
• What should I do with the potential abuser of my grandchildren with whom I live?
• Is being abused in a relationship a clinical condition, and how do you cure it?
• I use alcohol and sex for temporary relief
• Can post-traumatic shock make you a child pornography user?
• Is my girlfriend's compulsive cybersex an addiction?
• How do I get over an addiction to a man with whom I traded sex for food?
• How useful is the sex addict concept?
• Can I overcome codependence? Pia Mellody says "no"

Society and Science

• To what extent does your notion of addiction square with the assessment that addiction is an illness of exposure?
• Is my adopted baby doomed by her mother’s drug use?
• Does abusing kids help their recovery?
• What about a vaccine for addiction?
• What do you think of the film "Traffic" and other recent developments?
• How have findings of natural recovery affected American addiction treatment and policy?
• How should I raise a crack baby?
• Is the concept of addiction useful in understanding criminal behavior?
• Does the disease concept of alcoholism benefit Native Americans?
• Should mothers of crack/cocaine babies be punished?
• Are all crack users addicts?
• Should society disapprove of addiction?
• Isn't there really an epidemic of heroin use and overdose among the middle class?
• Is the U.S. turning away from spiritual approaches to alcoholism?
• Does childhood sexual abuse lead to adult addiction?
• Ken Blum, discoverer of the "gene for alcoholism," is a Fraud!
• I avoid withdrawal in the wilderness, but not at home
• Why do only 21-year olds drink in America?
• Why do you slight Benjamin Rush's discovery that alcoholism is a disease?
• Do you agree with Robin Room that alcohol 'causes' aggression and violence?
• Are people alcoholics if they think they are?
• Why do those middle class women take cocaine?
• How does social class affect drug abuse?
• Why are crack babies so screwed up?
• Why do Jews endorse AA when they don't buy that disease crap?
• How can you recognize a good prevention program?
• What do you think of the Ledermann hypothesis that limiting alcohol consumption in a society reduces drinking problems?
• Why are so many Indians alcoholics?
• What is the origin of the definition for binge drinking?
• Shouldn't we treat alcoholism as a disease?
• What is recovery?
• Are more people "almost" crazy then we realize?

Treatment

• Is it better to rely on psychiatric drugs and to lose the feelings that they mask, or to risk suicide?
• Why won’t they let me off methadone?
• Here is my story of being hospitalized for a drinking problem
• Should I get treatment after I have already stopped my addiction?
• Will I relapse to depression after quitting Prozac?
• What are the leading treatments for alcoholism and addiction?
• How should I react if my mom's therapist is brainwashing her into AA?
• Is 'dry drunk' a real medical diagnosis?
• What do you think of New York's decision to put all drug "addicts" through treatment?
• I know people quit smoking on their own; can alcoholics do the same?
• Can I erase my alcoholism treatment before entering med school?
• Will AA or other approaches dominate alcoholism treatment in the future?
• I can't get no satisfaction — will endorphins help me?
• Did I mature out of alcohol addiction?
• Is there implantable antabuse: How about enivornmental planning?
• Antidepressants don't work for me — can I use marijuana instead?
• Can you experience withdrawal from antidepressants?
• Please help me to help my client recover naturally
• Is putting people into a coma (in Russia) an effective addiction treatment?
• Does natural remission still work as well as treatment; how do you do it?
• As a nonspecialist, I am worried about dealing with a drug abusing client — what are my prospects and liabilities?
• Do antidepressants work?
• Does my sister-in-law belong in a treatment center?
• How do I manage withdrawal from Clonidine?
• Where can I get data on treatment?
• Are antidepressants addictive?
• What about alcoholism assessment at recovery centers, and do I have a drinking problem?
• Don't alcoholism counselors have to know something about counseling?

Questions About Stanton Peele

• Dr. Peele, are you still relevant?
• Do you counsel adolescents?
• Why aren't you on Bill Moyers' 5-part series on alcoholism/addiction on PBS?
• Stanton, have you been bought?
• Who says you're an alcoholism expert?

Questions From Treatment Professionals

• How to teat a crack baby – or any other child
• Where can I go to practice alcohol counseling the way I choose?
• Do values pay a role in addiction?
• What can I say to my employers who push 12-step methods?
• Can people use narcotics safely, even with benefits, for years?
• How can I perform the Stanton Peele act in front of treatment personnel?
• How can I help Salvation Army drug addicts?
• How can I employ sensible treatment practice while working in the chemical dependence field?

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