Self-indulgence vs. Self-destruction

IN Karl A. Menninger's article, "The Vital Balance," which appeared in the July, 1965 issue of the AA Grapevine, there is the statement: "Most alcoholics are affection craving individuals who, if they don't get enough love in the ordinary course of life, take to loving themselves, feeling sorry for themselves, indulging themselves." I should like to set forth another view of the relationship of the (active) alcoholic and self-love on the chance that it may seem to some of your readers closer to their experience than the one Dr. Menninger describes.