Definitely and absolutely without question, a symptom for me.
My problems involved depression/anxiety in my life from my teen years onward. In an attempt to live with the anxiety, I developed into a control-freak. Eventually, holding on tightly to everything and everyone in my life led me to physical pain and insomnia, and then I began to self-medicate with alcohol.
That's why the stopping was only the beginning. Then the hard work began.