Grizzly Man works on a lot of different levels. However, as a recovering addict and alcoholic, what I found most interesting about the film was how it exposed Timothy Treadwell as an addict (alcoholic) who may have swapped his substance addiction (drugs and alcohol) for a process addiction (gambling, sex, danger) with the bears. Like all addicts in their disease(and not in recovery), he basically needed more and more bear to get the same fix (high) he experienced during his initial contact with them.

With all addictions, there is a progressive movement away from truth. As Timothy's bear addiction moved him away from reality and toward a state of "insanity." His distorted thinking becomes apparent in the footage he shot of himself (that was never aired on his TV Special, The Grizzly Diaries).

"Addictions (without recovery) are almost always progressive and fatal." -- Anne Wilson Schaef

Everything about Timothy's behavior, from the misplaced anger at the Forest Service and exaggerated paranoia about poachers, to his delusional thinking about actually being a bear, showed a person trapped in their disease and moving further away from reality.

Add to the fact, that his impaired thinking process was based upon faulty beliefs. And this is where his lack of formal training or education in zoology, or any of the natural sciences, really came back to bite him. (No pun intended).

A "non-addict" thinking person would have understood that if a male bear will kill cubs to stop a female bear from lactating so that she'll want to mate again, and that hungry bears do eat other bears to survive, that maybe they could eat me too!

Like all addicts, Timothy became progressively self-centered, isolated, paranoid, confused, controlling, perfectionist, blinded to his disease (denial), insane, blaming (projection), and dysfunctional. In short, his life had become unmanageable. And ultimately it put him, his girlfriend and at least two bears to death.

Herzog's film works as a tragedy. But also serves as a cautionary tale for all addicts, that can be summed-up by a lyric from Neil Young:

"The very thing that makes you live, can kill you in the end." -- Neil Young