I am over ten months sober with only using SR as my support group. I also have read a ton of books and literature, including the AA literature.
I hate labels, but I started blacking out while drinking alcohol almost from the get-go in my teens. I guess I was more of a binge drinker, but it got to be to the point that I was thinking about it way too much, that I was always planning for it, that I was trying to hide how much I was drinking, that I didn't want to do anything social that didn't involve alcohol. I had developed stomach ulcers from my culmination of wine and ibuprofen to stave off the frequent hangovers.
I am actually grateful that I decided to give sobriety a try when I still had any semblance of control. I think that is part of the reason why my relatively simple recovery method has worked for me. There is no doubt in my mind that it is progressive. My mom went from a nightly heavy drinker to a full blown alcoholic who is drunk several weekday mornings, every single week. It took years, but now I really don't think she could recover if she wanted to without detox and a serious, serious rehab. I really believe she has already caused serious damage to her body and to her brain. Why not give sobriety a real, honest, 6-9 month try when it is still a possibility to do it with an easy accessible recovery program (ie. SR, AA, Celebrate Recovery, AVRT)???
My only regret with sobriety, is that it didn't dawn on me to do it sooner!