RE 75: I'm Breaking Up With The Word Alcoholic

Paul, with 18.5 months of sobriety, shares how he did it. That's right, I'm breaking up with the word alcoholic and opting for a simpler less defining answer of I don't drink.

I got the idea for this podcast after reading the following article and I hope you like the show notes. As you can probably tell, I've had some recent help with show notes since mine leave much to still be desired.

COUNT ME OUT OF “RECOVERY NATION” - NEGATIVE SELF-IDENTITY IS THE CRUELEST STIGMA

(Stanton Peele: July 7th, 2016)

 

The labels “alcoholic”, “addicts”, and “in recovery” dehumanizes people, both for the person

    themselves and their children.

 

            -Influence contributor, Meghan Ralston, wrote in her article (I'm Breaking Up With the Word

             Addict),

 

Agree - “Even in a chaotic stage of drug use, we are not “other.” We are women, we are someone's daughter, we continue to laugh, we continue to like jazz and cheeseburgers and comfy pajamas. We cry, we get so lonely, we hate sitting in traffic. Addiction can be wretched, no question, but we do not ever stop being human beings, even during the times in our lives when we are dependent on drugs.”

 

Disagree - “For many people, myself included, the word “addict” is incredibly harmful and offensive. You do not have my permission to call me an addict. You can of course refer to yourself as an addict, if you wish.”[1]

 

Don't refer to yourself as an “addict.”

 

            -It's depressing

            -No one should highlight/define themselves by their worst trait or period in

             their life.

 

These concepts arose in conversation between Dr. Peele and Talk Recovery Radio:

 

“Dr. Stanton Peele was today’s thought provoking live guest on Talk Recovery.… our show is meant to be a platform where all pathways to recovery are welcomed to be discussed… But today, that almost didn’t happen. There was an 'us and them' feel to the show… Why do people feel the word addict is stigmatizing?”[2]

 

            -Peele explains that the host seemed to feel that he was part of a movement

             that set people recovering apart from everyone else.

 

                        -Culture seems to encourage this separation.

                             -public policies

                             -celebrities' confessionals

                             -treatment circles

                             -recovery high schools

                             -etc.

 

            -Show host ironically wonders why there's a stigma towards addicts while he himself labels

              himself as one.

 

Peele refuses to label himself by marching with Recovery Nation, a group that lets themselves be lead

    by their labels.

                        -”Thinking of yourself as an alcoholic causes you to behave the way you think alcoholics

                           behave.”

 

     -To quote Peele and Ilse Thompson,

 

“You are not your addiction; you are a valuable human being whose qualities endure and exceed your addiction. … It’s impossible to expect a person to achieve wellness by focusing on his or her faults and mistakes. Perhaps this is why conventional recovery asserts that people must remain 'in recovery' forever and continue to identify themselves as addicts, no matter how long they are sober.”[3]

 

 

-Today people seem to expect labeling. Peele states,

 

“Imagine a child with a learning difficulty looking at you and saying, 'I am retarded,' or 'I am stupid.' We would cry and hug them and tell them that wasn’t true!”

 

-Peele goes on to pose the question of why it is that people always discourage each other from

  identifying themselves by their problems or illnesses, except when it comes to addiction.

 

-While debating former head of treatment at Hazelden, Peele asked how he short-circuited his family

  heritage.

 

            -While the clinician had a cynically humorous answer, Peele gave his answer for the man to the

              radio show hosts. The method to preventing his children from taking on addictive traits was to

              raise them in emotionally and financially stable home, encourage them, provide for them, and

              allow them to be who they want to be.

 

            -What doesn't help children, is to burden them with the “destiny” that they would most likely be

              an alcoholic.

 

-The “tough love” approach often comes in too late, Peele says.

 

            -Before a child can misbehave during drug use, you ought to instill him with morals of

              responsibility to themselves and others.

 

-Peele is reframing addiction in an opposite direction from the “disease” mindset. He puts it like this:

 

“Addiction is not a consequence of taking drugs and drinking. Rather, it arises from the way in which these and other compelling activities fit into people’s lives and meanings.”

 

-To end the interview, Peele asked how the show host quit smoking cigarettes.

 

            -His response was that his recovery program didn't allow it, but also that it didn't allow him to

              call himself a cigarette addict. Rather, they insisted on the generic term addict.

 

            -He then was able to quit smoking (one of the  hardest substance addictions) without patches.

              This was because it didn't address smoking, or label them as cigarette smokers.

 

FOR COPYRIGHT PURPOSES

 

All content read here has been cited appropriately. The content is based majorly from the article written by Doctor Stanton Peele: Count Me Out of “Recovery Nation” - Negative Self-Identity Is the Cruelest Stigma of All. For original sources, please consult the bibliography located below.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

 

Peele, Stanton Dr. “Count Me Out of 'Recovery Nation': Negative Self-Identity Is the Cruelest Stigma of All.” The Influence (blog), July 7, 2016. Accessed July 14, 2016.http://theinfluence.org/count-me-out-of-recovery-nation-negative-self-identity-is-the-cruelest-stigma-of-all/.

 

 

Peele, Stanton. Recover! An Empowering Program to Help You Stop Thinking Like an Addict and Reclaim Your Life. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 2015.

 

Talk Recovery. “Interview with Doctor Stanton Peele (Facebook Post).” World Addiction Treatment Expert Dr. Stanton Peele | Last Door(blog), June 30, 2016. Accessed July 14, 2016.https://www.lastdoor.org/world-addiction-treatment-expert-dr-stanton-peele/.

 

4.Ralston, Meghan. “I'm Breaking up with the Word 'addict' and i Hope You'll Do the Same.” The Huffington Post (March 25, 2014): 1. Accessed July 14, 2016.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meghan-ralston/breaking-up-with-the-word-addict_b_5028999.html. 

[1]           Meghan Ralston, “I'm Breaking up with the Word 'addict' and I Hope You'll Do the Same,” The Huffington Post (March 25, 2014): 1, accessed July 14, 2016,http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meghan-ralston/breaking-up-with-the-word-addict_b_5028999.html.

[2]                 Talk Recovery, “Interview with Doctor Stanton Peele (Facebook Post),” World Addiction Treatment Expert Dr. Stanton Peele | Last Door (blog), June 30, 2016, accessed July 14, 2016, https://www.lastdoor.org/world-addiction-treatment-expert-dr-stanton-peele/.

[3]                 Stanton Peele, Recover! An Empowering Program to Help You Stop Thinking Like an Addict and Reclaim Your Life (Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 2015).

Don’t forget to support the Recovery Elevator Podcast by shopping at Amazon with the Recovery Elevator link:

www.recoveryelevator.com/amazon/

This episode was brought to you by Cafe RE and get your daily AA email here!