Peter J. Adams

Professor Peter J. Adams initially studied philosophy at the University of Auckland where he completed an MA in 1979. His main focus was on metaphysics and existentialism. He then trained in clinical psychology, completing another MA in psychology and a postgraduate diploma in clinical psychology in 1981. Following several years of clinical practice, mainly focused in mental health and addictions, he returned to complete a PhD in psychology in 1991 focused on the rhetoric involved in communicating mystical and spiritual encounters. Since then he has been teaching in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland, focusing mainly on teaching addiction studies, public health and social theory. His areas of research interest include: unhealthy commodity industries, gambling, alcohol and public health, addiction services, addiction and families, brief interventions, violence against women and applications of existentialism to everyday life. He has published seven sole-authored, original books: "Reflecting on the Inevitable: Mortality at the Crossroads of Psychology, Philosophy and Health" (Oxford University Press, 2020), "How to Talk about Spiritual Encounters" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), "Navigating Everyday Life: Exploring the Tension Between Finitude and Transcendence" (Lexington Books, 2018) , "Moral Jeopardy: Risks of Accepting Money from the Tobacco, Alcohol and Gambling Industries" (Cambridge University Press, 2016), "Masculine Empire: How Men Use Violence to Keep Women in Line" (Dunmore, 2012), "Fragmented Intimacy: Addiction in a Social World" (Springer, 2008), and "Gambling, Freedom and Democracy" (Routledge, 2007).