There might be a legitimate question of which particular CBT is more efficient, but there is no question of whether or not it works.

Smart people usually bootstraping individual CBTs for themselves. Some, like Hermann Hesse, even wrote books about it.

Kerouac himself was smart-enough to realize the dynamic and illusory nature of what we call "myself" (it was one of his main themes - unfolding of Cody and himself and of everything else) and that his alcoholism was the cause of his suffering.

Why he didn't choose to fight it is another question. Perhaps, it was too late.