Red,
Ime....after just a few drinking sessions where I drank excessively...e.g. more than about 5 drinks...I was physically addicted.
I started having bad withdrawals in my late 30's that I let escalate due to the addiction.
The mental addiction is for life. There are folks that regret relapse after decades of not drinking.
As a child or at least young adult, if I had this info., I would have had a way better chance to quit drinking then, rather than wait until I nearly killed myself.
That is why I love this site.
The real mental addiction, the desire to make all perceived problems go way and slip into euporia, is what I as an addict still crave.
I had to find other ways to find that happiness. I suffered hard for well over a year, and still suffer today sometimes because I crave that buzz.