100% that the folks I know who are alcoholics have high anxiety. It’s not the same exact kind of anxiety in all of them, but I believe it’s at the root of their problem with alcohol.
Part of my understanding is that for at least some of these folks they never learned to deal with emotions. They never learned how to feel and accept that feelings exist. Alcohol is the agent that they utilize to help keep those feelings at a level they can manage. It’s a numbing agent.
The social chaos that these individuals because of their alcoholism is so enormous. And I’m at a point where I can see how it influences their adult children and it’s depressing. You can see how the disease is transmitted from generation to generation. Someone might be disposed towards alcoholism, but coming from an alcoholic family and the chaos that comes from that makes it even more likely that the kids will become alcoholics.