Although physiological events may facilitate its origin, alcoholism is rooted in a distortion of the early mother-child relationship. It represents the abnormal survival in the adult of a need for the infantile normal experience of unitary pleasure of body and mind. The alcoholic rediscovers this experience in the course of intoxication. He cannot resist its gratification, however illusory and temporary it turns out to be, and this is the basis of alcohol addiction. The successful treatment of alcoholism, whether medical, religious or lay therapy, demands restitution of the unattained love. This requires a corrective experience on the emotional level[long dash]the intrinsic goal of psychotherapy.