He does not view addictions as medical problems but as "problems of life" that most people overcome. The failure to do so is the exception rather than the rule, he argues. When it was published in 1975, "Love and Addiction" pre-dated by almost a decade the notion of sex addiction and codependency popularized by authors such as Patrick Carnes, whose "Out of the Shadows", one of the earliest popular books to describe sex addiction, came out in 1983, and Melody Beattie, whose "Codependent No More" was published in 1986. "Love and Addiction" pre-dated the current popular use of the terms "sex addiction" and "codependency" to describe disorders of love attachment, as these terms were not part of Peele and Brodsky's nomenclature. However, because "Love and Addiction" was concerned with observing the same condition of addictive human attachments, it has been argued that this is the first book to be written on the subject of codependent relationships. In reviewing the legacy of "Love and Addiction", psychologist Dr. Alex Kwee wrote:"That experiences can be addictive was a prescient notion in 1975 as psychology now embraces the concept of the process (or behavioral) addictions such as pathological gambling, compulsive eating, and sex addiction. But it must surely be to Peele's dismay that instead of rethinking substance addiction as a medical illness, psychology has gone and classified the behaviors as addictions in the same medical sense and yielded the solution into the hands of the 12-Steps." Peele maintains that, depending on the person, abstinence or moderation are valid approaches to treat excessive drinking. In a Psychology Today article which compared the "Life Process Program" with the "disease model", he also argues against the theory proposed decades ago by modern physicians, mental health professionals, research scientists, etc. that addiction is a disease. In a co-authored book, "Resisting 12 Step Coercion" (2001), Peele outlined his case against court mandated attendance of twelve-step drug and alcohol treatment programs. He argued that these treatment programs are useless and sometimes harmful, he presented research on alternative treatment options, and accused some addiction providers of routine violation of standard medical ethics, an accusation that is likewise often leveled at Peele   In "The Truth About Addiction and Recovery" (1991) and "7 Tools to Beat Addiction" (2004) Peele laid out what he believes to be the elements of alternative treatment. He developed these ideas as the "Life Process Program", which was the basis for a non-12 Step residential treatment program and is now offered as an online treatment resource by Dr. Peele and colleagues.