I think the more knowledge you can gain about alcoholism/addiction the better understanding you might have about the power of the disease.
The worst part about anything that’s self-destructive is that it becomes so intimate to them. They become so close with their addictions and illnesses that leaving them behind is very much like being asked to kill a part of themselves, the part that taught them how to survive, how to cope in life, it’s the only way of living them know.
Certainly not justifying any of the bad behaviors that make, made loved ones unhappy just trying to point out that it’s not as easy to stop/quit and go into recovery as we may think it is.