My life was out of control too. My drinking was the symptom of deeper issues but I had to quit the self medicating before I could address (or even knew of) the issues I had, such as emotional pain and shame from a traumatic and difficult childhod.
Addiction is the avoidance of reality. We addicts find day to day life too boring, tedious, or emotionally painful to cope with.. so we choose ways to avoid it. To reward ourselves for coping. To ease our overactive minds.
We drink, shop, gamble, watch porn, etc.. as a distraction from reality, a means of finding comfort. If we stop one addiction, often another takes it's place unless we address the underlying discomfort. Before we can do that, we have to remove the primary addiction.
There are many proven methods to quit drinking or other addictive behaviors, but in the long run the addict has to learn to find peace in the moment. This may take therapy if there are emotional wounds. AA stepwork is also surprisingly helpful in this regard.
Mindfulness, acceptance, gratitude and awareness of the ego - the constant train of damaging and distorted thoughts - is the key to accepting reality, living in the moment, and finding happiness.