About Alcohol Addiction:

According to Cognitive Principle Matrix the two drivers of human nature are Greed or Fear.

Greed is defined as something you want and fear is defined as something you don't want.

Win/Win is based on greed. The goal is for pleasure

Win/loose is based on fear. The goal is to avoid pain.

The Cognitive Principle Matrix shows where fear and greed are located.

Most addictions start as Win/Win, but end up as Win/loose:

When I started as counselor at an addiction center during my first 5 years of experience, most of the alcoholics would say that they originally used alcohol for courage, either:

• For relationships, so they could mix more easily with others.
• For standing up to bullies or others they felt threatened by.

Therefore, alcohol started as a stimulant for courage, based on greed.

However, eventually they would become dependent on the alcohol for courage, which would create fear. Alcohol then became a depressant for avoidance and an escape from pain.

When given a choice between food and alcohol, the alcoholic would choose alcohol. At the same time they would experience, paranoid fear, shame and hopelessness.

The pathway out of alcoholism is:

Self forgiveness brings the alcoholic back from "negative and personal" to "negative and behavioral" and then he/she follows the green pathway, developing hope, humility, forgiveness, peace and suffering as he/she passes through each cycle.

Note: Suffer and grow [eg courage, patience, persistence] , not suffer and blame self.