Originally Posted by
CRRHCC 
You can't get addicted to a substance unless you have learned it does something for you. When life presents us with overwhelming issues, addicts respond with compulsive behavior such as a quick fix or mood changer of drugs. This is another way of saying we drink to regain control of how we feel. When we think life should be easy, fair and painless, our threshold to adversity is lowered and we regain control of our emotions with booze. The antidote is to empower ourselves with healthy behavior that replaces the drinking and returns control to our emotions. Easier said than done but it starts with realistic values and purpose in life. I was a functional drug addict for 4 decades. I had lost my purpose and values in life. It might be time to regain or acquire yours.
An interesting point of view but absolutely not my experience. I could care less what was going on in life around me. I didn't have the insight or awareness or even the maturity to be particularly concerned about anything. Sure I had good days and bad days, but that was irrelavent to the drinking.
In the scenario above, the OP, as a regular binge drinker must have had life throwing up obstacles in an absolute clockwork fashion. Every week at the same time, an obsticale comes up in the face of which we run off and drink. It doesn't make sense.
My experience was that I had a memory of the first few times I drank, not to oblivion, but to a really nice place. It felt good, I felt a part of life at last. I felt complete, satisfied, unafraid. The big book describes it as a sense of ease and comfort. No trouble, no stupid drama. It was a good spot.
That was the place, the only place I wanted to get to. The false belief or obsession that that could still happen (untreated alcoholism) was what took me to take the fatal first drink.
So I take the FFD aiming for the sense of ease and comfort, no other intention other than to have a good time, and I lose control and wildly overshoot the mark, bringing out all the crazy behaviour and the subsequent sickness, guilt and remorse. I feel awful because none of the crazy stuff was ever meant to happen. I didn't set out to get sh$tfaced and do the crazy stuff, I set out to have a couple and relax. That's the story of an alcholic. A m ind that convinced me it was safe to drink and a body that insured I would destroty mysef in the process.
The drunk is a different story. That is a lifestyle choice summed up in the following saying:
The drunk could stop if he would, the alcholic would stop if he could.