Ego is defined as "an inordinately large view of self-importance." The particular distortions addicts experience are of fundamental importance and explain the range of bizarre, destructive, unethical and criminal behaviors. The key distortion is a particularly perverse form of selective memory known as euphoric recall, the positive recollection of everything he does. This results in the addict remembering his good behavior but not his bad, or recollecting his poor behavior as being good. He remembers he was "the life of the party" when in fact, he was a blithering idiot; he remembers (and believes) he was driving safely, when the truth is, he was speeding recklessly. He truly believes he is competent at work or at raising children, when he is probably far less capable than he thinks, becoming incompetent in latter stages of addiction. While sober, if he could watch himself under the influence, he might see he has a problem. Unfortunately, few people videotape such events.
Vernon E. Johnson suggests that the distortions created by euphoric recall are the most devastating, "for it is the greatest single factor contributing to self-delusion." Addicts remember every one of their excessive drinking episodes euphorically, always grossly distorting the truth. "There is no time when they have been under the influence that they are able to recall accurately, and yet they go on believing firmly that they remember everything in complete detail." The results manifest themselves everywhere in the addict's life.
One of the behavior patterns almost always symptomatic of addiction is the blaming of others for all their problems. Many attribute this blame to self-justification or rationalization. However, if the addict remembers that his own behavior is always only good or right and never bad or wrong, how can he be blamed for anything? This distorted perception results in the belittling and rejection of others. It may even be the cause of hatred of other persons or whole groups. Whenever we observe the outward manifestations of such emotion, we can look to see if it has the distorted perception of euphoric recall at its roots.
The fact that addicts remember everything they did was good and nothing bad (and truly believed it) results in the super-inflated ego and god-like behaviors that James Graham brilliantly describes. Addicts are perfect, or so they think, because they don't remember otherwise.