To me and I'm a weird guy.. I don't think it's a mental illness. *I* see it as a bad habit(drinking). Like smoking is a bad habit and some people(myself included) get addicted to that bad habit. It becomes mentally part of 'who you are', to yourself and others. With the two bad habits I'm talking about above..Cigarettes have never landed me in jail. Cigs have never caused me to spend excess amounts of money because I don't know what planet I'm on at that moment.(insert any bad thing booze has ever done here).. ECT... It's breaking the habit that's important and never going back to it... again..that's my opinion and how I'm staying sober.
Edit: I forgot about the bad habit of continuing to go back to a toxic relationship with a toxic partner..Booze is your toxic bf/gf that you've become codependent on.