Hey everybody it's a beautiful it's a beautiful day here in Los Angeles I'm

standing in my parents backyard recording this intro because my dad's

watching TV inside and don't want you to have to hear MSNBC

droning on about Chris Christie this podcast this is a great one this is

Stanton Peele he's an addiction specialist and has been probably the most

prominent voice in the study of addiction for three decades four decades maybe

his classic book Love and Addiction came out in the 70s mid 70s and he's

probably published half a dozen books since then he's a very very smart guy he's

a lawyer he's a PhD psychologist and he's a bit of a rabble rouser as you'll

hear he's he's a guy who tells it straight and he has been arguing sometimes

as a lone voice in the wilderness that addiction is not a disease and in fact

he feels that the disease model of addiction which is dominant in American

society is disempowering to two people who have issues with drugs or

masturbation or gambling or you know what have you there are all sorts of ways

you can be addicted addicted to I should say there are all sorts of things and

activities that you can be addicted to and so if it's a disease how the hell

does that work you know is it the same disease is it like cancer something

that we call a disease even though it seems to be a whole bunch of different

diseases or is it not a disease at all is that an inappropriate way to think

about these things Stanton argues quite convincingly in my opinion that the

disease model is flawed that it does more harm than good that most people who

have unhealthy relationships with alcohol or substances or behaviors of one

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