Breaking the Chains of Addiction: Understanding & Healing the Real Wound Behind

Addiction is not about substances or behaviours. It is about pain. It is about an emotional wound that was never healed, and that the mind tries to soothe through compulsive actions. Whether the addiction involves alcohol, drugs, food, shopping, gambling, internet, pornography, work or constant stimulation, the underlying mechanism is the same. A vulnerable part of the self feels alone, empty, frightened or unworthy, and the addictive behaviour becomes a way to escape the unbearable emotional state.
Through the lens of Schema Therapy, this webinar explores why addictions form, why they persist and why willpower alone is never enough. We uncover the schemas that sit beneath every compulsive behaviour, such as emotional deprivation, abandonment, defectiveness, mistrust, subjugation and impulsivity. These deep emotional patterns push the mind toward behaviours that offer short-term relief but long-term suffering.
You will learn how to recognise your personal cycle of addiction, how to understand the emotional moment in which the craving is born and how to reconnect with the part of you that needs care rather than punishment. With grounding practices, mirror-based exercises and clear psychological strategies, this session helps you move from self-attack to self-understanding, from shame to clarity and from compulsive relief to authentic healing.
This webinar is an invitation to meet that truth inside yourself and begin walking a new path. .

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# Programme

### 1. What addiction really is

• The emotional system behind compulsive behaviour
• Why addiction is a coping strategy, not a moral failure
• The moment the brain uses the behaviour to avoid pain
• Why shame fuels the cycle instead of stopping it

### 2. The roots of addiction in Schema Therapy

• Emotional Deprivation and the search for soothing
• Abandonment and the fear of being alone with emotions
• Defectiveness and Shame, and why addiction becomes self punishment
• Mistrust and Abuse, and the need to escape vulnerability
• Impulsivity and difficulty tolerating frustration

### 3. How addiction works in the brain and body

• The neurobiology of craving
• Why dopamine teaches the brain to repeat the behaviour
• How emotional flooding triggers compulsive urges
• Understanding the crash, the guilt and the cycle restarting

### 4. The three coping styles of addiction

• Surrender, when the behaviour feels stronger than you
• Avoidance, when you numb emotions and disconnect
• Overcompensation, when you chase stimulation to feel powerful or alive

### 5. Identifying your personal addiction cycle

• The trigger
• The emotional state
• The craving
• The behaviour
• The relief
• The collapse
• The guilt and shame
• The repetition

### 6. Healing the vulnerable self beneath the addiction

• Imagery to meet the part of you that feels empty or alone
• Reconnecting needs that were ignored or silenced
• Mirror-based exercises inspired by Mindful Interbeing Mirror Therapy
• How compassion breaks the cycle more than discipline

### 7. Learning new ways to soothe and stabilise

• Grounding techniques for moments of urge
• Creating emotional safety in the body
• Building routines that regulate the nervous system
• Rebuilding trust in yourself

### 8. Long-term change and relapse prevention

• Understanding that relapse is information, not failure
• How to strengthen the Healthy Adult part of the self
• How to ask for help and build a supportive network
• Integrating small daily actions that create freedom

### 9. Final experiential practice and Q&A

• Guided grounding to integrate the session
• Unrecorded Zoom space for questions and sharing