The 12-Step Monopoly

An interview with Dr. Stanton Peele. Produced and directed by Patrick and Andrea Bergin. Copyright First Vision Productions 2003.
See Stanton Peele's website at http://www.peele.net
Find out more about Stanton Peele's latest book at http://www.addictionproofyourchild.com

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• 12
• Steps
• Peele
• AA
• Alcoholics
• Anonymous
• Treatment

[BlatzBeer]

@stockybob I remember how excited I was in the 90's about Dr. Kenneth Blum's work at UT concerning the A1 allele of the Dopamine D2 receptor, and Dr. Elizabeth Davis' work concerning TIQ in the cadavers of alcoholics from Houston's skid row. Groundbreaking work, and all done in my "back yard" here in Texas. But what this shows is that AA is wrong: alcoholism probably has a biochemical/biogenetic basis, and is NOT a "spiritual disease" caused by "character defects" like resentment.

[BlatzBeer]

@stockybob AA itself says it has no monopoly? Well, that certainly settles it! I wish you'd tell the State of Texas that AA has no monopoly, because most counties in the state will *force* you into AA attendance even though numerous other options may be available. In fact, why don't you get in touch with James Christopher, founder of SOS, who had to do battle many times with AAers on hospital boards who tried to prevent a medical facility from hosting SOS meetings!

[beautifulmind546]

@stockybob The monopoly occurs when ppl are court ordered to attend. You don't see this with any other treatment program. It is also said overtly and implied quite frequently that people who leave aa will die to impress upon them there are not other treatments or choices. Plenty of manipulative suggestion going on there regardless of what the bb says). I know plenty of folks who have stayed in aa for decades as dry abusive drunks having never really worked their so called spiritual steps.

[99motleycrue]

I have been to an A.A. meeting in Siberia and it sucked, froze my ass off !!!

[Hammersley1967]

@stockybob

HOW DARE YOU!!!

[stockybob]

I learned very early on in AA that AA had no monopoly (stated explicitly in the Big Book) and that every door should be kept open with regard to professional and other approaches, outside treatment with a psychiatric professional is encouraged explicitly in the Big Book and that 40% of drinkers recover without AA. The definition of having "tried" AA for recovery is a fair attempt at the steps. The 98% figure is fudged data ie. people who have attended a few meetings and didn't try the steps.

[scumgod13]

@stockybob With a 98% failure rate I would say AA is a worldwide travesty.

[scumgod13]

@LittleLadyDalia Yea, so is religion. Doesn't mean its legitimate though does it.

[LittleLadyDalia]

This guy is drunk himself! He should go to AA meetings. U can find AA meeting in Syberia if you wanted too. It's worldwide.

[stockybob]

AA is world wide phenomenon with a majority of its members outside of the US.... don't know what this guy is getting at.

[stockybob]

Geneticists have come up with close to 12 common alleles found in the alcoholic that are not present in non-alcoholic individuals. Additionally, coroner's began to notice in the 60's that alcoholic brains showed the same kinds of damage suffered by heroin addicts ie. opiod damage. Further investigation revealed that alcoholics produce "beta" endorphins, 300 x more powerful than regular endorphins when they imbibe alcohol and are addicted to THIS high, not the alcohol reaction.

[zooromeo]

My Sky Fairy is better than your Sky Fairy

[Hammersley1967]

"Ham,Maybe: A: Ham, 2p worth, and Godlessweasel advocate for S Peele, B: Ham , 2pWorth and Godlessweasel are the advocates for the Legion 12 nation, C: Ergo, the 3 of U are the major examples of his followers on YT.....Besides i don't kbow about right now, he is 2 busy writing about Dave letterman,"

Sounds shieneze!!! (of the andrea variety...)

[evet45]

Ham,Maybe: A: Ham, 2p worth, and Godlessweasel advocate for S Peele, B: Ham , 2pWorth and Godlessweasel are the advocates for the Legion 12 nation, C: Ergo, the 3 of U are the major examples of his followers on YT.....Besides i don't kbow about right now, he is 2 busy writing about Dave letterman,

[Hammersley1967]

So he IS coming to dethrone me!!

AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!

[evet45]

No, just the opposite. Legion 12 Network nonsense, and holding S Peel as your power of example,( a man who says brain scans prove nothing because Nora Volkow of NIDA is of Russian descent, and therefore she has Communist ideas), really leads to little credibility to anything U write to defend him, .it's a BIO-psycho-social disease, It's all of it, to clarify what i just wrote 1 day ago. I meant to say it's not JUST a beh disease.

[Hammersley1967]

Are you saying that Peele might be coming to dethrone me as "The King Of The Legion of 12"?

[evet45]

S peele is as dangerous as Dr Murray was to M Jackson. there is a perfect example of a Dr who took advantage of a person's physical addiction, and lost. And, look at Audrey K and S peele, How many who tried to drink moderately, and failed miserably, and some died. Why, because, the disease of addiction is not a behavior. it's a physical disease.

[Hammersley1967]

And you're "just joking"!!?

[evet45]

Hammie, just playing with U. I know it was in 1956, AugusT I believe, under the guidence of researchers and doctors.

Gotta keep U on Ur toes!.

[Hammersley1967]

"Bill's acid trip was in the 70's" Where did you get that from numbnuts? Off the back of a Corn Flakes box with all the rest of your "knowledge"?

And YOU are attempting to correct ME?

I'll give you one last chance - do you have a reference to this little "pearl of wisdom"?

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Oh Boy Evey!!!

You're an absolute crack up!!!

Thanks for the giggle!!!

[Hammersley1967]

"So, I get it, all the sites, including this one U consider a loke! So, by simple deduction, U think S Peele is a joke, like the Legion12 Network!"

Yes evey...

That's some SOUND reasoning there...

Self-evident to all in sundry...

Now, you know how I've repeatedly wiped the floor with you over dozens of these threads?

This begs the question: Why do you keep coming back for follow up bloody noses?

Repeating the same mistakes expecting a different result?

Back to step two for you evey...

[Hammersley1967]

"Bill's acid trip was in the 70's"

Oh evey! I just LOVE the way you continue to make an utter ignorant fool of yourself time after time after time after time...

In the late 1950s Bill took LSD with Betty Eisner, Gerald Heard, and Aldous Huxley.

Read "Bill W.: A Biography Of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill" by Francis Hartigan for confirmation.

How can you get SO many things wrong SO many times?

Your SUCH an IDIOT!!!

And evey, "Get Ur facts straight there buckaroo!"

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[evet45]

Ah, Hamsterman, King of the Legion 12, Bill's acid trip was in the 70's, He took it because some jerk told him it was a cure for alcoholism.

Get Ur facts straight there buckaroo!

[evet45]

Defending urself a whole bunch there, dude! LOL, if it was a joke, then Y R U asked to be part of a world take over,,,,,So, I get it, all the sites, including this one U consider a loke! So, by simple deduction, U think S Peele is a joke, like the Legion12 Network!