We swap one addiction for another. Stop this drug, pick up another, always trying to find some something we can use to escape our feelings as controlled by our addiction. It will not end until we realize on the deepest levels of who we are that we are addicts who can't use any mood altering substance successfully. Until that time, life is a perpetual struggle, with one part of being screaming "just stop!" while being drowned out by the chaos of life as dominated by the other. Eventually, depending on the person, that "other" collapses and recovery can begin. It takes what it takes. For each person it is different. There are different bottoms. Hopefully yours will be shallow....