I take the stance that if someone’s drinking too much it’s a sign that their life is in a ****** place; 'they’re drinking because of their situation’ seems common sense, rather than the stance ‘their life is **** because of drinking’. If someone’s drinking too much, it’s likely a sign that they’re in an unhappy situation which is still relevant to this day (and amplified by drinking).
Yeah I rather ferociously argued that if you had my life you'd drink too -
I was going through a 'bad patch' and my drinking would definitely return to normal, or at least lessen when my life got better.
20 years later my life got better, worse, and all stages in between - and I was still waiting for that magical eventuality of good things to happen and for me to quit drinking.
Turns out when I quit drinking everything else got better - not right away, and not without work but it got better.
I was a pretty smart and resourceful guy - I could always find things to prove my stance.
I'd suggest you have access to some pretty decent longitudinal case studies here on SR that you might also what to consider along with anything else you might find.
But I'm not here for an argument - just sharing how it was for me.
If you're not coping with your life as is - stop drinking.
It won't be helping change anything.
You'll just be trying to tolerate the untolerable.
If you want to stop being poisoned, stop taking the poison.
D