I think most alcoholics drank in the first place to deal with some kind of anxiety or fear or discomfort with living in their own skins. The problem is that alcoholics can't cope without it. It is a very destructive "solution" that only works for a certain amount of time before it turns on you.
I think some "problem drinkers" are people who situationally drink heavily. IOW, they lose a loved one, suffer some other trauma or setback and temporarily cope with it by drinking too much. They may get into a bit of trouble from it, but they eventually heal and they no longer need to drink. Or maybe they really love the taste and the buzz, but again, if some good reason to quit comes along, they don't have an insurmountably hard time quitting.
But as everyone here has pointed out, the bottom line is how it affects you, and how YOU cope with that.