I long realized that I was an alcoholic, and frankly, didn't want to stop, so self-knowledge wasn't anything that would have served me. I never really made any effort to stop until I got into AA. But knowing myself, and through the experience laid out in the book and in those in the fellowship, it certainly wouldn't have worked. It didn't work for Rowland Hazard then, under the care of Dr. Jung, so why would it work for me a while back?
As I've posted before, I would read about the physical problems that alcoholism would cause me (i.e. what would my obituary say) and yet that knowledge did not serve me. My willpower was non-existent. And I get evidence of this to this day when I try to out think something and control something rather than let it go and align myself with His will.