Games Alcoholics Play: The Hidden Power Dynamics of Addiction, Social Scripts, and Psychological Manipulation
 
Games Alcoholics Play by Dr. Claude M. Steiner is a groundbreaking analysis of the psychological strategies, status games, and unconscious scripts that drive alcoholism and addictive behaviors. Drawing from Transactional Analysis (TA), the book uncovers how problem drinkers engage in repetitive, destructive interactions that serve hidden psychological needs—reinforcing cycles of addiction, enabling behaviors, and group power dynamics. At the Center for Integrative Neuroscience, this book is highly relevant to our theories on dominance hierarchies, trauma bonding, and the psychological warfare embedded in addiction and social control.
 
How This Book Connects to Our Work
✔ Alcoholism as a Status Game & Power Dynamic – Problem drinking is not just a personal struggle; it is often part of a larger social script that assigns roles to the alcoholic, enablers, and authority figures. This aligns with our Status Marble Game model, which explains how power, influence, and manipulation are distributed within hierarchical systems.
✔ The Three Types of Alcoholics & Their Games—Dr. Steiner categorizes alcoholics as Drunk and Proud, Lush, and Wino, each with their own status-seeking behaviors, energy dynamics, and survival strategies. This mirrors our work in understanding how individuals adopt specific personas to navigate dominance hierarchies and protect their perceived power within social systems.
✔ Addiction as an Energetic & Psychological Racket—Steiner describes the unconscious “rackets” or manipulative exchanges that keep addiction cycles in place. This ties into our research on energy theft, trauma bonding, and the way destructive behaviors are reinforced through social contracts and groupthink.
✔ Transactional Analysis & Social Power Plays—The book explores the unspoken agreements between alcoholics and those around them, revealing how manipulative communication, victim-persecutor-rescuer dynamics, and guilt-based control strategies keep the cycle alive. This aligns with our focus on psychological warfare, social conditioning, and how group dynamics enforce destructive behaviors.
✔ Breaking Free from Addiction Scripts – Recognizing and rewriting self-sabotaging narratives is essential for breaking the addiction cycle. This mirrors our approach in neuromodulation, cognitive resilience, and trauma-informed healing, which focuses on reprogramming stress responses, emotional conditioning, and metabolic imbalances that contribute to addictive behaviors.
 
A Critical Read for Understanding the Psychological Warfare of Addiction
For individuals who have witnessed or experienced the complex power dynamics of addiction—whether in personal relationships, medical settings, or institutional frameworks—Games Alcoholics Play provides a powerful lens for understanding the hidden psychological forces at work. It reinforces the mission of the Center for Integrative Neuroscience to expose manipulative power dynamics, promote trauma-informed healing, and offer practical strategies for breaking free from destructive social scripts and reclaiming autonomy.