kmaclam wrote:
Cold turkey will just make you a miserable, resentful addict. When you stop drinking, your disease doesn't go away. Most common thread amongst those of us who have been there but bucked the insurmountable odds....... AA.
That's a likely outcome but isn't necessarily going to happen to everybody.
In June 1986 I decided to stop drinking (I'd been doing it heavily) and just quit. No taper, no AA, no therapy. Once I made the decision, it was as if a switch had been flipped. Since then I have not once wanted a drink and I've been through full-blown depression, two marriages, and two divorces.
I don't do other drugs.
I'm good friends with some AA people, successful ones, but their paths to sobriety were not mine. We talk about it; I realize that I am very, very lucky for whatever physiological/psychological combo I tapped into 30 years ago.
As far as the OP's question is concerned, I can't say that stopping drinking alone turned my life around, but not having alcohol either as a crutch or an excuse sure helped. I had issues after that but my life definitely took an upward trajectory. I can't really say what might have happened to me if I hadn't quit drinking, but I'm confident that it would have been bad.