David Roberts is the HealthyPlace.com moderator.

The people in blue are audience members.

David: Good Evening. I'm David Roberts. I'm the moderator for tonight's conference. I want to welcome everyone to HealthyPlace.com. Our topic tonight is "An Alternative View of Addiction and Recovery." Our guest is psychologist, author, lecturer and lawyer, Stanton Peele, Ph.D. Dr. Peele has some strong and non-mainstream beliefs about addictions and the addiction treatment process. You can read a bit more about Stanton Peele here.

Good evening, Dr. Peele and welcome to HealthyPlace.com. We appreciate you being our guest tonight. Much of the mainstream medical world believes that addictions have some sort of genetic and/or biological component. You have a different viewpoint on why people become addicted to substances and destructive behaviors. I'd like to start off with having you explain that.

Dr. Peele: Even those engaged in genetic research recognize that claims commonly made on behalf of genetics -- e.g., that people inherit loss of control -- simply cannot be true. That is, the most optimistic claims are that people have some sensitivity to alcohol which influences the overall equation of addiction.

David: What, then, is your theory behind why people become addicted to certain substances and behaviors?

Dr. Peele: People utilize the effects of alcohol like they utilize other experiences: for the purposes of satisfying internal and environmental demands with which they are otherwise unable to cope.

The best example was the Vietnam experience, where soldiers took narcotics but largely desisted at home -- in other words, they used drugs as a way of adapting to an uncomfortable experience, but they rectified that in other circumstances.

David: To clarify then, what you're saying is that people become addicted to things because they can't cope with their environment any other way.

Dr. Peele: Yes, and they often shift in their reliance on drugs, alcohol, et al. depending upon shifts in their environments or as they develop the resources with which to cope.

One of the things most wrong -- and wrongheaded -- about disease theories of addiction is that they predict a one-way trip downhill. In fact, all data shows that the majority of people reverse addictions over time, even without treatment.

David: What are your thoughts about treatment for addictions?

Dr. Peele: Pretty dismal. We allow virtually only one type of treatment -- 12 step treatment -- which has been shown to be highly limited in its applicability. That is, we face this great contradiction -- people claim we have an unmatched and successful way of coping with addiction -- only, despite its popularity and imposition on so many people, we have increasing levels of addiction and alcoholism.

David: And what do you feel is wrong about the 12-step approach?

Dr. Peele: Other than this clear evidence that it has a limited positive impact on our society, I personally feel its model of human behavior is limited for most people ( especially the young) in its emphasis on powerlessness and self-sacrifice. I feel that for most people in most situations -- a belief in self and emphasis on enhanced skills and opportunity are the best keys to positive outcomes.

David: So for someone who is addicted to alcohol or cocaine, for instance, what would you suggest to them to help them overcome their addiction?

Dr. Peele: I don't think this is the best way to approach the problem -- to suggest to people what they might do.

People are struggling to improve their lives and to combat addiction all the time. I seek to help them develop the resources with which they may succeed. You know, people try to quit addictions -- like smoking -- for years. Ultimately, many succeed, and it's not because I gave them a great philosophy or treatment for addictions.

David: So are you essentially saying: "if you have an addiction problem, figure out what works best for you and do it? Eventually, you'll find the answer."

Dr. Peele: Often, this works. Of course, people seek help from me and others when they are discouraged, or we see recalcitrant individuals. In these cases, my job is like an interior explorer, to help examine their motivations, skills, opportunities, and deficiencies with them in order to develop a path out of the thicket.

Again, I am a helper -- people escape their own addictions. But I have seen how people summon their resources to do so, and I have some idea of which resources and ways of coping -- with stress, for example -- often accompany remission.

David: What about the idea that eventually, at some point in a person's life, they will outgrow their addiction?

Dr. Peele: This occurs remarkably often. In one colossal survey by the government of 45,000 people who had ever been alcohol dependent, and three quarters of whom had never sought treatment or AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), about two thirds of the untreated were no longer dependent.

Obviously, many people do seek treatment, and of course many might not escape addiction without formal help. But when I perform such assistance, I see it as aiding the natural curative process, which is in itself so strong.