Anyone having had any experience of addiction, either personally or by proxy (such as a family member, friend or employee), will recognise the profound and bewildering personality change that addiction brings about. It is as if the loved one, valued friend, or respected colleague is absent and has been replaced by a self-centered, manipulative and destructive "It" that will stop at nothing to get Its way. 

 The disease model of addiction maintains that the dependent person is the victim of an illness. The afflicted soul is neither morally corrupt nor irresponsible, but suffering. This means that addiction is not freely chosen; rather the excessive behaviour is beyond the control of the sufferer. This is the condition called Powerlessness. 

Family and friends are the unseen victims of addiction. By a subtle and sinister process, the addiction will seem to take on a life of its own and manoeuvre itself into the centre of the family or the social system. It will become the organising principle of the family. Every decision will seem to be made in the light of the addiction.