Originally Posted by
Cascabel 
I always felt that it was a habit rather than an addiction too. But, over time, the habit morphed into dependence and then into addiction. If one drinks regularly, for whatever reason, one develops tolerance to ethanol. With tolerance one needs more booze to accomplish the same thing. This leads to a positive feedback loop of ever increasing doses and ever decreasing results. My drinking increased until, in a moment of clarity, I realized it could kill me. So I decided to "break the habit". The physical and emotional effects of quitting quickly convinced me that it had become, in fact, an addiction.
Brilliant post, which 100% describes the process I suffered. I was 'mentally' habituated/addicted at first, believing that I 'needed' a drink to relieve stress or 'add' to a happy event. In time, tolerance ramped up and increasingly stressful events unfolded, so that feedback brain loop became more deeply entrenched. Once physically addicted, to the point where I'd need to drink to quell the morning withdrawals, the feedback loop solidified.
The good news I discovered, is that same feed back loop principle kicked in to support my decision to stop drinking. Neuroplasicity is marvellous, but it's dark side was addiction, thankfully, it's now working in reverse and supporting my choice.