Addiction Is a Choice [Paperback]

Ph.D. Jeffrey A. Schaler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2002

Written for both lay and professional readers, this book offers new approaches to understanding addiction and the public policies necessary to successfully battle its detrimental effects on society. The author explains why current policies are ineffective and how they fail to cure the "problem." He argues that they actually encourage addiction by allowing people to feel blameless for the consequences of their choices.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

paper 0-8126-9404-X The pendulum has begun its swing backcould it be that drug and alcohol addictions are not diseases after all, but bad personal choices? Can addiction be overcome by mustering the strength of character to turn away from such choices? Psychologist Schaler (Justice, Law, and Society/American Univ.; Smoking, Who Has the Right?, not reviewed) argues convincingly that society has erred in giving in completely to the AA vision that addiction is a disease, that addicts can't help themselves, and that they need a higher power to be saved. Addiction (which at one time meant only devotion or dedication) has come to mean ``any activity which individuals engage in, deliberately and consciously, and are physically unable to stop themselves from pursuing. Rejecting such a definition out of hand, Schaler maintains that ``people are responsible for their deliberate and conscious behavior. He is sympathetic for those struggling with addiction; he doesn't oversimplify his own or his opponents arguments; and he readily acknowledges his philosophical forefathers (Thomas Szasz, for one, from the last time the pendulum was at this end of its arc). His reading of the results of research into addictionthat it fails to support the disease modelis convincing. And his resulting suggestions for changes in public policy and for individual change demand consideration. If not a new model for viewing addiction, at least a provocative update of an old one. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

A clear and fascinating read. The wealth of information and fresh insights reflect the writer's career as a scholar-teacher-therapist, and especially his many years of research and practical work in the addiction field. The book dispels many myths about addiction and should provide liberating insights to the afflicted. -- Herbert Fingarette, author of Heavy Drinking, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, UCSB

Addiction Is a Choice is a powerful antidote against the twin poisons of anti-drug propaganda and drug prohibition. -- Thomas Szasz, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, SUNY Health Science Center, Syracuse

Schaler drives a stake into the heart of the 'disease' concept of addictions. Millions of people have stopped smoking, abusing mind-altering drugs, and drinking addictively on their own, without the intervention of counselors or doctors or programs. Dr. Schaler explains persuasively why and how this happens, despite all the genetic and hormonal predispositions. -- Joseph Gerstein, M.D. F.A.C.P., Harvard Medical School

This is indeed a rare book. Schaler has provided a unique, masterly work which explains addiction from a revelatory perspective. The reader can learn how the controversial area of addiction can be looked at and understood in a new light. -- Morris Chafetz, M.D., Founding Director National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 179 pages
• Publisher: Open Court Publishing (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081269404X
• ISBN-13: 978-0812694048
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Emotions, June 11, 2005

By 

Matthew A. Evans "m_allen_ky" (Louisville, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Addiction Is a Choice (Paperback)

i have to say that, as an alcoholic, i have mixed feelings about this book. on the one hand, i KNOW consciously that i can turn down a drink of scotch or a 40 ounce bottle of beer whenever i want. on the other hand, i can't escape the feeling that i want (note: i won't say "need") these things more than people who do not suffer from an addiction to alcohol. so what an i to conclude?

well, the truth is probably a middle ground between the two camps. addiction is not a "disease" in the sense that cancer or AIDS is. that's ridiculous. anyone who says that they are the same thing are probably overdue for a good, old fashioned, punch in the face. addiction is not a "disease" in the sense that these calamities are.

on the other hand, people who suffer from addictions, like me, (and like innumberable other alcoholics and heroin, crack or even cigarette addicts) are suffering in a manner that the general populace can't understand. they don't understand the compulsion, the psychological selfishness, the shame, or the sense that one needs a "fix" in order to "be ok".

he (the author) has, in some measure, shamed us. but it's not as though we do not need to feel ashamed. we have made terrible decisions, but we have largely allowed the spector of "disease" to free us from our own moral culpability. in the end, the truth is this, and nothing more:

we are responsible for the choices that we have made. if we are addicts, the choices may be harder, but they are still ours to make. we are NOT powerless. we do NOT need Alcohoics Anonymous, though it may help us to lean on others who have suffered as we have.

but, ultimately, the power does not lie with god, or with the collective group of fellow alcoholics. the power lies with you and with me. seeking out our brethren may a good way to find encouragement...fellow people trying to stay on the right path...but it's not a substitute for being a good, and responsible person. in the end, we are accountable to god (if he exists) but more importantly to ourselves and to our loved ones.

don't let this book keep you from getting help, if you need it. but, at the same time, don't let anyone tell you that you need anything other than yourself if you truly want to get better.

find yourself. find your voice. the ability to heal is yours and yours alone.

signed,

an alcoholic.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addiction is a Choice Successfully Challenges Disease Theory, June 4, 2000

By 

Nicolas Eyle (Syracuse, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Addiction Is a Choice (Hardcover)

"Addiction Is a Choice," by Jeffrey Schaler, is a refreshing look at a subject endlessly discussed in today's media. Open a newspaper or a magazine today and you are likely to see at least one article on the horrors of drug addiction, and how this terrible "disease" strikes people down, leaving them sick for life, with no chance for anything but a temporary remission. This sort of drivel fuels the Drug War.

The idea that prohibition is necessary because "once someone makes the decision to use an illegal drug all capacity for rational thought disappears and force is the only thing that will save them" is so often repeated that it is accepted by a large number of the public who ought to know better. Jeff Schaler does know better and makes his point effectively.

Schaler tells the frightening story of a teenage girl, brought to him by her mother. The girl was suspended from school and had been in trouble for drug use. The parents were worried. She had been to another doctor, but she continued to use drugs. She had been told that she suffered from the disease of drug addiction and felt helpless and depressed. Schaler told her that addiction was a choice and she had control over her life. The girl believed him and, during treatment, took back control of her life and stopped using drugs. Then, to avoid the peer pressure in public high school to take drugs, she applied to a special school for students who had used drugs. The principal would not admit the girl to the school because the principal believed that the girl was in denial about her "disease."

Schaler spells out the dangers of adhering to the disease model of addiction. "Teaching people in `treatment' for addiction problems that they `don't know they have a problem' may create a problem for them," he writes. "Teaching them that they cannot control themselves may convince them that they cannot control themselves. Teaching them to believe that `treatment is the only solution to their problem' may persuade them that they cannot solve problems on their own. It reinforces dependency..."

"Addiction Is a Choice" looks like any one of a number of "self help" books on the market, but it certainly doesn't read like them. It tears apart the victim rhetoric so prevalent in today's discussions about addiction, but in a calm, non-threatening way. Schaler sounds as though he's probably as good a psychologist as he is a writer. Understanding the nature of addiction is imperative if we are ever going to deal sensibly with drug use in America. This book does much to help us in that quest.

60 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another expert relying on evidence, not pop psychology., August 12, 2000

By 

Timothy P. Scanlon (Hyattsville, MDUSA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Addiction Is a Choice (Hardcover)

Dr. Schaler has been called a "libertarian." Perhaps he is that. But if you've ever been subjected to an "intervention" (a human rights violation not yet addressed by Amnesty International), or forced "treatment," believe me, those experiences lead one to that libertarian approach.

It's amazing how we accept as fact that which is shouted the loudest. The disease model has been blown from every bullhorn since the temperance movement, therefore we accept it. There are a few rebels, those who rely on facts--evidence--rather than the platitudes of the treatment gurus and 12-step addicts who've captured the market. So addiction is one of the leading buzzwords of the day. It's also a means of making us all alike. You know, I may have a bank balance of a billion, could buy Iran in a quick real estate deal, but I'm addicted to such and such, so I'm in the same boat with you, poor moron, who lives in the city and doesn't stop complaining. On that concept, another book has yet to be written.

The "treatment" industry thrives, wasting untold billions of dollars of our insurance premiums on little more than religious sayings. In the meantime, tobacco companies shell out millions for the victims of tobacco "addiction." (Can I get some of that loot? I quit smoking over 20 years ago! No treatment; no 12-step bumper stickers!)

While we most often don't see the 12-step programs as a religion, Schaler does. I know from experience with its adherents--even in "treatment" into which I was coerced--that they claim they're not responsible individuals but victims of genetic circumstance, the propensity for addiction over which they have no control. They MUST rely on their "higher power," whether one calls that power God or anything else. That's not religion? And the 12-step-aholics denial (!) of that is another symptom of the anti-intellectual nature of the "movement."

I probably should state that--and I believe Schaler would corroborate--if a person feels comfortable with a 12-step program, or for that matter with Scientology, he or she should have the freedom to attend whatever meeting(s) s/he likes. But when we're forced by courts to attend such congregations against our will, then there's something wrong. (Fortunately, these forces are being challenged in court, on grounds of religious freedom.)

Schaler is wise too in pointing out that:

(1) many users of allegedly "addictive" substances never become addicted to them;

(2) many an allegedly incurable addict recovered on his or her own, particularly those returning from Vietnam. (So the stupid movies we were shown in high school showing people strung out on this or that demon drug were laugable; those who recovered on their own--and there are many--laugh at that D-grade propaganda);

(3) There are many "addictions," to religion, to fads, what have you. It's just that some are socially acceptable and some are not.

He also challenged the prescriptions of the contemporary panaceas: the antidepressants such a Prozac. (See "Toxic Psychiatry," another good reference on that subject.) During the early to mid-1980s, Valium was the most prescribed drug, given out like candy. By the early 90s, it became one of the demons of the treatment industry. When will Prozac and its cousins fall into the bottomless pit of condemnation by the temerance crowd and that drug's manufacturer start paying their ransom for the concoction now seen as relief for a couple of bucks a hit?

I wish Schaler spent more time commenting on the economics of "treament," face it, the real reason the industry exists. He comments vigorously on the fact that the treatment is a religion, but the emphasis on the monetary motive is one he doesn't stress.

The only other criticism I have is minor but notable. Schaler spends an inordinate amount of space, I felt, commenting on his problems with Moderation Management. While the problems were formidable, the amount of focus on MM reminded me of Carl Sagan's near obsession with Velikovsky in "Broca's Brain." It was a fine book, but the excessive comments on that other author's foolishness distracted from the quality of Sagan's text.

Aside from those minor infractions, I highly recommend the book. Let's those of us who object to the disease model and all its offshoots, including the expensive (And you're paying for it, folks!) "war on drugs" and phony populism (i.e., all of us who are prone to addiction are in the same boat, despite the superficial difference between my immense wealth and your squalor) use information like that in this book to fight the propaganda of the industries capitalizing off of them.