I got my soothing as a kid by deciding "I'll feel good like those boyfriend/girlfriends to when I find a girlfriend" and followed that up into adulthood. Funny though the feel good part seemed to only be happening when there was plenty of sex.. I pretty well took the emotional component for granted, so in effect I made fulfillment == sex, so it was all about gratification of instinct with all the childish manipulation that comes with not having it. Getting out of that thing seems to be phase 1 of my recovery and its taken over a year to get to a point where I can let go of the fixation over physical intimacy, which is fine- seems like recovery is more like growing than fixing. Recently I've been taking up my response to listening to the news, which has always been a big trigger for me. Its been really interesting- not so very long ago I clearly spent weeks in a state of outrage over the nonsense that gov'ts get up to, poisoning everyones days all around me. Turning on the news now makes me feel like a cat in a rocking-chair factory though, have to stay out of the emotional reactions. Recovery seems to me to be about learning better habits of mind, making amends for the stuff done etc- getting to a place where a clear conscience is a soft pillow, having that ease and comfort just walking down the street with no agenda & no fixations.
So yeah maybe the addict gets the TLC and walks away into a new life... but until they face that stuff and be free of it they'll be running from themselves no matter how pretty the new lifestyle is. Maybe they won't notice.. I don't see a reason to suppose that a given addict is guaranteed to suffer from their past, not my business anyway. But for those of us, addict or no, who do, we must find our own recovery or ultimately descend into perdition.
So I'd say if a retreat sounds useful then go for it. I do a yearly motorcycle pilgrimage, full days riding with nothing in my head but the air and the road. To me self-care is physical, emotional and spiritual, I remain impressed with how comprehensively ignorant I was about something so important.