As John Powell has written, we each need a Copernican moment when we realize the world doesn't revolve around us. Remember Copernius went against all other thinkers to say that the Sun didn't revolve around Earth, but that Earth revolved around the Sun.
In other words, some of the main issues in addiction treatment are maturity issues. The age at which a person started drinking, using, eating, buying, being overpowering to others, using sex, etc. is the emotional age he/she still is. If he/she started at age 15, which is pretty normal, then he/she is age 15 emotionally.
So recovery is generally about growing up. Another main issue of why people are addictive is to continue to live life in their head or in their imagination. No one knows reality--we only have a perception of reality.
As the hero in 10 Million Ways to Die says,"I never knew that I lived in a world that I hadn't created.." That is why the addict experiences such anger at having to give up the addiction. It seems to the addict to only be pertaining to him/her. In reality, the addiction is affecting everyone in the addict's life.
