Ugh, sorry, but I find the notion that alcoholism is a choice, in part or wholly, crass and unfeeling. I'm also an adult child of an alcoholic and I agree that it is "a mental obsession that causes a physical compulsion to drink" as described by some charity or other in the States. It's a disease that can progress with incredible stealth and subtlety from normal social use to the point where the capacity to make healthier choices is destroyed. That's the nature of addiction.