Originally Posted by
JeffreyAK 
Yup. Abstain long enough and the alcohol-related issues go away. Now, are we perfect under the addiction? Probably not, and we may even have deeper issues to sort out that led us down the path that ended in addiction - trauma, for example, is a pretty common but not universal theme. But everyone else has their own issues too, whether or not they ever became addicts, so us former addicts aren't even special in that respect.
I think we all of us are works in progress, including the formerly addicted and the never addicted as well. We all have stuff that needs sorting including trauma. But not all who have been traumatized fell into addiction, so claiming that trauma needs to be addressed before sobriety can be attained is just backwards and seems to be an excuse for continued addiction.
Get sober first and most things will improve. From that position of uncoditional irrevocable sobriety, work on the rest of the stuff. Or not. The thing is, from this point on, this self improvement is detached from sobriety - that question has been answered.