There is no such thing as a dry drunk. You are either dry or drunk. That being said, drinking typically masks all sorts or psychological, physical, and emotional problems. After all most of us were drinking for some "reason". Typically we want to point at issues we can see as the issue that causes the drinking, but more often it is the unseen issues that are the problem. When a person quits drinking the first thing that happens is that the body will begin to heal somewhat. There are however emotional problems that may still be left that have never been dealt with. If a person only stops drinking then these problems will likely remain. Depression is also often a "cause" of problem drinking. If a person is depressed they will remain depressed without some form of treatment. Proper diet, rest and exercise, exercise, exercise will help with most of these problems. It also takes work on socialization skills to help a person become comfortable sober. There are many people who have never taken a drink and they are angry, miserable, and awful to be around. Are they on a dry drunk? No, they are just angry, miserable, and awful to be around. To change, to get better a person has to want to. Unfortunately, there are many of us that quit drinking and say, "I quit drinking what more do you want?". These problems people have after quitting drinking have less to do with drinking than the drinking had to do with having these problems in the first place.