Mental health issues led to my drinking, for sure. My issues were not obvious, which in a way was a negative because I never knew I should be looking for help. I have had obsessive thoughts since I was a child, though they never took over my life. I began having panic attacks in my teens, but I had no idea what was happening to me. I felt a lot of anger and flip-flopped between anger and depression for years. Both the anger and depression were ways of avoiding the real emotional pain I felt. They distracted me. Eventually I began to need more numbing and self-medicated with alcohol which was disastrous.
From what I've read, CBT is quite effective for stopping habits. I hope that it works for you. One thing that really helped me with the habit aspect of drinking, was to change my daily routines. Is there a specific time of day or activity that you associate with the skin problem? If so, changing routines and patterns might help a bit.