Terminal uniqueness is the false belief that the situation the alcoholic is facing is unlike anything faced by other alcoholics ever before.

 It is called terminal because thinking this way of thinking can get people killed. This can happen if ill people are unwilling to make the best use of the available treatments or cures because they are convinced that they are a special case. Suffering from terminal uniqueness puts the individual in conflict with other people a lot of the time. Terminal uniqueness is sometimes referred to as personal exceptionalism. This is how the alcoholic is able to keep on their self-destructive path. They may have no problem accepting that excessive use of alcohol will destroy the lives of other people, yet they somehow feel exempt from this – they are the exception to the rule. They may die as a result of their addiction while still being under the spell of personal exceptionalism.

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