Just to "make myself perfectly clear" as a famous (infamous?) fellow once said, I didn't drink because of my problems but when I was asked why I drank I would say to others, and to myself that I drank because of my "problems". And the doctors I went to seemed to fall for that and spent lots of time "helping" me to see what the "problems" were. They got paid for it and we played the "Because" game for forty years. Drinking had changed my chemistry and physiology and until that was somehow changed back and stabilized I would continue drinking and "explaining" that in all sorts of ways. So how does one do that? In my case, it was rehab, aftercare, random testing and joining a group of other recovering alcoholics. Some may say they just managed to "quit" all by themselves. I couldn't do that. I needed help. Finally I got it.
W.