Originally Posted by Grungehead

I found that for me there was a big difference between "cravings" and "obsession". My cravings became less frequent after a few weeks and became infrequent after a few months. But the obsession never left me even after several years of not drinking. I ended up relapsing after 7 years and drank for another 8 years before getting sober again.

When I got sober again 9 months ago I got a sponsor who took me through the steps for the first time. The obsession to drink was removed somewhere between step 7 and 10. In the Big Book they speak of a spiritual experience or awakening and a complete psychic change. One of the definitions of psychic is "relating to the soul or mind". I believe this best explains what happened to me, as I had a (psychic) change of my soul or mind by working the 12 steps. For me it was a sudden change after completing Step 7 and has been a gradual and ongoing change since that time while doing my Step 9 amends and practicing Steps 10-12 on a daily basis.

Since you mentioned that you go to meetings I explained my experience in AA terms, but I think another way to explain this for people not using the 12 step approach would be to call it a shift or change in personality. I think that a fundamental change is needed in our thinking to get rid of the obsession for alcohol by whatever means work best for us. I believe the most important change is to learn how to get out of ourselves and focus on what we can do for our fellow man. I find it very difficult to obsess about other things (especially alcohol) when I am thinking about what I can do to help others instead of thinking about myself.