7 Tools to Beat Addiction (Paperback)

by Stanton Peele (Author) "Values play a critical role in addiction-and your values are likely to be the key to your escaping addiction..." (more)
Key Phrases: nonaddict identity, beat addiction, mature identity, United States, Brief Interventions, Community Reinforcement Approach (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this straightforward self-help guide, psychologist and addiction therapist Peele (The Truth about Addiction and Recovery) argues that, contrary to popular belief, the best way to overcome addiction is not through treatment in rehab centers or in formal groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, but rather through self-efficacy and self-reliance. "Successful therapies," he writes, "place the responsibility for changing your addictive behavior on you." Citing statistics from numerous studies, such as one that looked at heroin-addicted American soldiers in the Vietnam War, Peele points out that people quit addictions every day without any professional assistance. In fact, he says, research shows that alcoholics who do not enter treatment programs are more likely to quit abusing alcohol than those who do enter treatment. (Groups such as AA, Peele says, endorse themselves by telling members that there is no recovery without their programs, and so when members believe that they cannot successfully beat their addictions alone, they quickly relapse once they stop attending meetings.) Emphasizing a person’s own sense of responsibility as the driving force behind overcoming addiction, Peele’s book outlines seven tools that can serve as a foundation for successful recovery—Values, Motivation, Rewards, Resources, Support, a Mature Identity and Higher Goals—and includes exercises to help readers design their own program. The ultimate goal: to replace the "immature gratifications" of addiction with a "fulfilling, meaningful life" that includes a strong support structure. Peele tells readers that they have the power to create their own world of health and responsibility. His message will no doubt anger the countless Americans who have been helped by AA and other treatment programs, but could prove useful to those reluctant to seek outside help for their addictions.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
DO YOU WANT A LIFE WITHOUT ADDICTION?

Whether you are battling drugs, nicotine, alcohol, food, shopping, sex, or gambling, 7 Tools to Beat Addiction is a hands-on, practical guide to overcoming addiction of any kind. If you or a loved one are struggling with addiction but do not find that twelve-step or other treatment programs work for you, this book can help.

In , internationally recognized expert Dr. Stanton Peele presents a program for addiction recovery based on research and clinical study and grounded in science. His program utilizes proven methods that people actually use to overcome addiction, with or without treatment. 7 Tools to Beat Addiction offers in-depth, interactive exercises that show you how to outgrow destructive habits by putting together the building blocks for a balanced, fulfilling, responsible life. Dr. Peele’s approach is founded on the following tools:

•Values
•Motivation
•Rewards
•Resources
•Support
•Maturity
•Higher Goals

This no-nonsense guide will put you in charge of your own recovery.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (July 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400048737
• ISBN-13: 978-1400048731
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,249 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 146 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "7 Tools to Beat Addiction" passes the "client test.", October 21, 2004

By	Pavel G. Somov (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"7 Tools to Beat Addiction," by Dr. Stanton Peel



"As a clinician with a background in substance use treatment, I am always on the look-out for a good non-12-step bibliotherapeutic resource on compulsive-addictive disorders to share with my clients. However, I have long discovered not to trust my own opinion of the book's potential utility to the client and have been relying on a strategy of loaning a book to a few clients as a simple "field test" of its face validity as a didactic supplement to treatment, with an explicit permission to use highlight and underline the salient passages as a means of feedback to myself about what parts of the book "really click" with the clients.



Over the past couple of months I have had a chance to "pilot" Dr. Stanton Peele's recent book with a harmonious title of "7 Tools to Beat Addiction" on several clients of mine. The results are in. The pages that seem to have gotten client-readers' attention (highlighting, underlining, and in-session processing) are from the parts of the book devoted to a head-on challenge to the disease model of addiction. Dr. Peele, a long-standing counter-force to the disease model of addiction, effectively and with clarity deconstructs the disease assumptions, helping a prospective client reader to examine his or her belief structure that stands in the way of recovery. Dr. Peele succeeded in the challenging task of abbreviating the complex key points of his paradigm-breaking title "Diseasing of America" and presenting them to the client-reader in a tactful and easy to understand manner. In doing so, Dr. Peele presents important historical and sociological data as well as clinical and endearing family case-vignettes (see the story of Uncle Ozzie) about the phenomenon of self-change.



From the in-session processing of my clients' impressions of Dr. Peele's book, I have also learned that the clients particularly appreciated the humanizing, validating, non-judgmental stance of Dr. Peele's writing, which is best captured in the chapter on the "Higher Goals: Pursuing and Accomplishing Things of Value." The chapter makes a powerful logotherapeutic point that recovery in of itself is not the goal but a means to a goal, a means to a higher meaning.



As often is the case with Dr. Peele's writing, this book too, aside from its self-help focus, makes a broader sociological appeal to the society at large. In particular, in discussing the limitations of the war on drugs and the proliferation of the legal drug addiction, Dr. Peele encourages the reader as well as the society at large to embrace personal responsibility, rather than to continue to turn the Western cultural landscape into one nation-wide realm of "people-places-things" to avoid. With a characteristic clinical courage and common sense, Dr. Peele openly discusses the issues of moderation and harm reduction, entrusting the potential client-readers with an ability to responsibly process and weigh this information. And what is also important is that Dr. Peele is able to discuss these non-12-step issues with respect and tact, without alienating a prospective 12-step devotee, be it a clinician- or client-reader.



My clients have also responded well to Dr. Peele's practical and thought-provoking exercises featured throughout the book. Of particular note are such specific self-help tools for emotional self-regulation, craving control and relapse prevention. In summary, the book provides an excellent mix of discussions designed to challenge the belief structure that stands in the way of clients' recovery as well as highly pragmatic and empirically sound self-help techniques, wrapped in a humanizing and validating writing stance, surely to be appreciated by a reader pursuing a self-change or a client in the treatment context."



Pavel G. Somov, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Author of "The Recovery Equation: Motivational Enhancement/Choice Awareness/Use Prevention, an Innovative Clinical Curriculum for Substance Use Treatment."

85 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, July 14, 2005

By	Kendra - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

7 Tools to Beat Addiction is an excellent resource for those addicted to alcohol or other substances and want to enrich their lives while reducing or eliminating their alcohol intake.

7 Tools is much like The Truth About Addiction and Recovery, also by Peele. 7 Tools is a bit of a condensed version of the aforementioned Truth About Addiction. Nevertheless, if you read both books, you will gain information from both books. If you are feeling as if you are suffering and might not be able to focus on the more scholarly Truth About Addiction, then definitely pick up this book. You will be educated about the addiction process, about the pseudo-science that has pushed the disease model, and you will be given the tools you need to moderate your drinking or quit your drinking altogether.

Stanton Peele's research isn't based on feeling, like the AA model of alcoholism-as-a-disease. It's based on numerous studies by many different scientists done over the past several decades that have drawn the same conclusion OVER and OVER again. And, the conclusion is that it's NOT a disease-- despite the AMA and despite AA and despite every single organization that says it is. The proof lies in this point-- that there hasn't been even ONE successful study that has proven otherwise-- even when the study was created to PROVE that alcohol dependence was a disease.

AA ADMITS in it's own data that only 5% of AA members remain alcohol abstinent. The data that has been proven over and over again is that this number is LESS than those that quit drinking without AA. Additionally, a recent Harvard University Study stated that 80% of those that have quit drinking did it on their own. This goes against the disease model and AA approach. Many can moderate their drinking successfully or quit successfully altogether. This goes against the disease model and AA approach, too. Stanton Peele's book shows us the studies and data that support that once addicted DOES NOT MEAN ALWAYS ADDICTED. Unless, of course, one has bought into the AA philosophy and has now accepted that they are permanently sick and out of control. This is the crux of this argument. Studies have shown that those that have bought into this philosophy wind up having a lower self-image than those that have not, and they wind up believing they are permanently sick and completely unable to manage their lives-- thereby buying into the belief that they are "out of control". The focus is never about getting better in AA (I know they say otherwise)-- the focus is on STAYING 'sick', STAYING in AA, and STAYING permanently in a "RECOVERY" state. The focus, truthfully, is in keeping old folkwisdom alive even though every bit of evidence shows us that there are proven better ways. To add insult to injury, anyone who doubts this model is accused of being in denial, and everyone who remains alcohol abstinent without AA is accused of being a dry drunk (not "sober" according to AAspeak. Hello? Isn't this supposed to be a quit-drinking program?

The problem AAers have is that this proof (that is shown so coherently here) completely pulls their chairs out from underneath them. I understand this, too. If everything I believed was taken away from me and proven to be false, it would certainly undermine my own confidence in my ability to make decisions. And, so far, although the twelve-step "treatment" (although why we continue to call it treatment when it hasn't successfully treated anything) philosophy has continued to permeate our culture, there is absolutely no evidence at all to suggest that it is beneficial. On the contrary. The evidence proves it hasn't been and that there are better ways that have been proven to work (for instance, Community Resource and Family Training, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, and Cognitive Therapy, as well as other approaches) scientifically.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's a practical way to end addiction. Who knew?, September 28, 2006

By	Alex Ander (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

A great read for anyone who wants to reinforce that they are capable of cultivating their own, unique meaning in life. And, if you've been put off by the irrational teachings of 12 step groups, this book will help you realize that you are not crazy: You aren't powerless. You can choose what life goals to pursue -and you don't need the approval of strangers in a group or coerced faith in an ill-defined "Power Greater Than Yourself" to do so.

Borrowing from their Temperance Movement-Protestant Revivalist ancestors, 12 Steppers preach values and threaten fire and brimstone. 7 Tools to Beat Addiction reminds the reader that it is up to each of us to figure out what we want most for ourselves. Then, the author clearly sets out proven techniques to try and real-life examples to consider along the way. Well worth picking up a copy.