must be hard for you, like someone said before, even 'normal' people have big trouble giving up the booze.
for me personally i cant drink, it makes my dp worse, so im at the opposite end of the scale... yet i miss friday and saturday nites after work down the pub getting drunk and having a laugh, infact thats one of the biggest things that depresses me. my life used to somewhat revolve around what drinking adventures were planned for the weekend and so on. but i guess it's easy for me to stay off the booze coz i simply dont like feeling drunk at the moment, it makes my dp worse, and the hang overs are killers.
as for anxiety, it's a real pain in the ass hey, it does settle down and go away, thats probably the most important thing to remember.
without sounding like a drug pusher, valium helps me with my anxiety a lot, so much so that i can get on with life *allmost* normal.
i know the benzo's are addictive and in general dont solve any problems, but i think the biggest problem with anxiety is the fact that it is self feeding, example, you start to get the butterflies and other anxiety type symptons, so you start to worry about worrying and it starts and vicious circle, for me the valium takes a chunk out of the circle and while it doesnt fix the problem, it just gives me a chance to not worry and get on with life a bitt, which in turn gives me something else to think of and lessons the anxiety in the long run for me. having said all that, i keep the benzo's for a complete last resort and i only take 2.5mg when i do, sometimes maybe 5mg if i know ive got something difficult ahead of me, eg. flying
anyway, good luck staying off the booze, it will do you good in the long run im sure.
cheers
Luke.