Not sure that I agree with this theory.
I have thought about it a lot.
It sounds good, at first glance, and is an easy enough explanation, but I think I would need a more scientific explanation to solidify that opinion.
Some of us, while drinking, had to maintain relationships as well as function in society.
Alcohol will make you behave foolishly, and I am sure it stunts some of the ways of dealing with tough emotions, but totally stunted maturity, I think, may be due to other issues, and maybe the alcohol is just one of them.
Certainly alcohol appeals to base desires, and people who drink too much tend to not want to deal with reality on its own terms (obviously)
But looking at one post,
Acting like a college kid, and still drinking like one, sounds like a chicken and the egg kind of thing. Did she drink like that because she was immature, or did her drinking keep her in that mindset?
Im not sure.
Just food for thought. Some of the ideas are pretty broad brush to me.
I just think that there are probably a lot of people who are alcoholics who have underlying personality problems. Not always the other way around.
Some of the things that the previous posters have mentioned sound like drunk uninhibited and stupid behavior. Did all of that remain the same when they stopped drinking? If you don't know, I don't see how you can be sure its not just the booze in many cases.
I have seen people who stopped drinking, and were fine, and I have seen people who stopped drinking and were still immature, boorish, selfish asses who happened to be sober.
Respectfully.