Stanton Peele

Foreword

By Edo Segal

The diagnosis I refused to accept was the one that fit perfectly.

Six out of six. Every criterion for behavioral addiction mapped onto my experience with Claude Code like a clinical checklist designed specifically for me. Salience — I thought about the next build session during every meal. Mood modification — my affect visibly shifted the moment I opened the terminal. Tolerance — the sessions grew longer, the ambitions larger. Withdrawal — the restlessness when I stepped away was physical, not metaphorical. Conflict — my wife could tell you. Relapse — every boundary I set lasted less than a week.

Six out of six. Textbook case. And yet something about the diagnosis felt fundamentally wrong.

Not because the symptoms were inaccurate. They were precise. But because the framework generating