Alcohol abuse and superego conflicts

This paper reports the author's experiences with alcohol abusers in their initial or premorbid phase. The emphasis is on their superego conflicts and how these conflicts relate to their alcohol abuse. The adaptational function of their heavy drinking pattern is to neutralize an archaic persecutive superego through an oral-sadistic counterattack. The drinking is an attempt to reach inner structural change, which is successful during the first moments of intoxication, but often backfires when the ego strength is lessened under the influence of alcohol.